Destination City Partnership Fund – FAQ

Destination City is the growth strategy for the Square Mile. In the decade ahead, the City aims to be a globally attractive place for businesses, seeks to attract workers back to the office and be a place that people want to live, work, learn and explore. Its future success relies on being a welcoming and inclusive destination for all.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept applications from individuals. Individuals who wish to apply for funding should do so through a City-based constituted organisation or group.

Yes, the Central Funding and Charity Management Team will provide telephone feedback to unsuccessful applicants. To request feedback please email the Central Funding and Charity Management Team.

Organisations who have submitted a proposal that was unsuccessful cannot reapply for a Destination City Partnership Fund grant for 4 months after the date we received your original completed application. After 4 months, a new proposal is welcomed, however resubmission of a proposal that was turned down will only be considered for funding if there has been significant proposal development and if the comments that were made at the time of declination have been specifically addressed.

The level of grant awarded may be different from that requested. A Funding Manager will usually discuss this with you, so it is unlikely to come as a surprise. This can be for a number of reasons: you may have over-budgeted; you make may have asked for more than is reasonable in relation to our usual funding patterns; or we may take the view that you could find some of the costs from another source.

Yes. Through the Destination City Partnership Fun the City Corporation is seeking to co-fund projects with partners. Proposals must set out what cash and in-kind contributions will be made to match-fund the cash contribution requested from the City Corporation.

Grant funded projects are expected to become sustainable within the lifetime of the Destination City Partnership Fund grant. Applications to extend a current Destination City Partnership funded project will be limited to the award of a maximum one further continuation funding grant. However, an applicant may apply for funding towards a new different project once their currently funded project has been completed.

No. Applicants can only hold one Destination City Partnership Fund grant at any one time.

Yes, organisations can hold a grant from each of the City of London’s funding programmes, but not more than one grant at any one time from the same funding programme.

Any organisation seeking to reapply to the Destination City Partnership Fund will have to demonstrate a successful track record of delivering positive Destination City outcomes in their previously funded work. Organisations are welcome to reapply to fund new activities or projects once their current project has been successfully completed and the grant has been signed off.

Although applicants may apply to the Destination City Partnership Fund for a number of different projects, the total Destination City Partnership grant funding awarded to the same applicant cannot exceed £20,000 in any two year period measured from the application date of the first grant awarded.

Yes. An organisation can withdraw its application at any point during the assessment process by submitting a request in writing to their allocated Funding Manager. Applicants who withdraw their application are eligible to reapply to Destination City Partnership Fund.

Yes. We can fund projects that are solely digital or work which has both digital and non-digital elements, meeting our priorities. The work must be a discreet project for the benefit of City residents, City workers and those visiting the City of London, although we understand that for some online work a percentage of wider communities may access the online resource. Examples of digital projects/digital elements we can fund include: creating resources for a community; hosting a community space online; providing services online or in a hybrid format; redesigning content so it works for the web.

We expect all organisations applying to the Destination City Partnership Fund to have considered their safeguarding responsibilities and to have suitable policies, procedures, reporting mechanisms and training in place to protect from harm all those who come into contact with the organisation including beneficiaries, staff and volunteers.

Organisations seeking funding for activities with or for young people and vulnerable adults must have a robust safeguarding policy in place which outlines procedures, training, incident reporting and safeguarding risks. Such applicants should:

• Follow relevant safeguarding legislation and guidance.
• Establish good safeguarding policies and procedures that all trustees, staff and volunteers follow, which fit with the policies and procedures of their local authority safeguarding partner or safeguarding children or adults board.
• Make sure all staff and volunteers receive regular training on child protection or working with adults at risk.
• Appoint a safeguarding lead to work with their local authority safeguarding boards and/or create a plan for responding to concerns.
• Manage concerns, complaints, whistleblowing and allegations relating to child protection or adults at risk effectively.
• Have clear policies that identify when DBS checks are required, how the organisation assesses the level of DBS check needed and how the organisation handles the information.
• Review their policy and procedures at least every two years.

A ‘Bencom’ or ‘Community Benefit Society’ is a form of Co-operative that may be established by a geographical community or people with common interests. Charitable Community Benefit Societies operate for public benefit and do not operate for profit. They are classed as exempt charities and not required to register with the Charity Commission. They are regulated by the  Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and applicants should provide proof that they have been registered as a Charitable Community Benefit Society with the FCA and with the HMRC as an exempt charity for tax purposes. Not all Community Benefit Societies are necessarily eligible for City of London Corporation funding, and our assessment of eligibility will depend on the applicant organisation’s objects and the extent to which it operates for the public benefit.

As part of the application you must specify the activities (outputs) you aim to deliver through your Destination City Partnership Fund funded project and the differences (outcomes) you aim to achieve. Applicants must submit a completed monitoring and evaluation framework setting out how you will track your progress against these intended outputs and outcomes for each year of the grant. See the NCVO website for advice.

It is important that you submit all the required supporting documents as we cannot assess your application until we have received all of them. You can submit supporting documents easily using your online application’s upload function:

1. Select the type of document from the ‘title’ drop-down list. 
2. Click on the 'browse' button to locate the file on your system.
3. Click the 'upload' button.

Attachments should either be Word Documents (.doc or .docx), Excel Spreadsheets (.xls or .xlsx) or in Portable Document Format (.pdf). We may not be able to open documents that are in other formats. The attachments cannot be more than 10MB in total. If you are unable to attach your documents email the Central Funding and Charity Management Team for advice.

The ‘Funding Required’ spreadsheet and Monitoring & Evaluation Framework proforma are excel documents. To use a template you will need to first download and save it to your own computer/server before filling it in. The completed document can then be uploaded as an attachment to your application form.

All applicants are advised in writing of the decision on their application within a few working days of the Decision Meeting. If the application is successful, the letter will be accompanied by a copy of the City of London Corporation’s Standard Terms and Conditions which must be signed by your organisation’s Chair or Treasurer and returned promptly.

Successful organisations will be assigned a Funding Manager who will be your main point of contact throughout the duration of your grant. Your Funding Manager will contact you to agree a suitable grant payment schedule to support the delivery of your project.

Your Chair or Treasurer should sign and return your grant offer to the Central Funding and Charity Management Team. You will also have to complete a Grant Payment Details form on the online portal. After completing this and if you are a new grantee (or if you have received a grant from us in the past but your bank details have changed), our data team will contact you via phone to confirm your bank details and set your organisation up as a supplier on our system. Supplier creation can take up to a week, so please bear that in mind when requesting your initial instalment. Payments are made by bank transfer.

Your Funding Manager is there to support you during the delivery of your grant funded project and you should contact them to discuss any changes to the project timetable, content and delivery or to discuss any challenges that the project or your organisation is facing. We aim to keep grant monitoring to a minimum. We will ask you to complete an Information and Learning End of Project Report within one month of the end of your grant period and for multi-year grant awards an Interim Information & Learning report within one month of each end of grant year.

Where a grant has been awarded for revenue or capital expenditure, applicants have up to one year from the date of the grant letter in which to begin to draw down funds. We aim to be as flexible as possible and understand that sometimes plans change, however the grant offer may be revoked if the grant is not drawn down as outlined above unless an alternative timescale has been agreed in writing with your Funding Manager.

We understand that projects, especially those delivered over multi-years, can be delayed or change due to external issues. If your organisation or project faces any challenges please get in contact with your Funding Manager immediately to discuss possible solutions.

We are sorry that you are not happy with the service that you have received. Any applicant wishing to complain or express dissatisfaction about the conduct, standard of service, actions or lack of action by the Central Funding and Charity Management Team during the assessment of their application should follow the City of London’s simple three-stage procedure outlined on the Corporation website's Feedback page. At Stage 1 complainants should contact the CFCMT upon which their complaint review will be undertaken by the Head of the Central Funding and Charity Management Team. A full response should be provided within ten working days. At Stage 2 a complaint review will be undertaken by the Chief Officer of the Department or a nominated Senior Officer. A full response should be provided within ten working days or the complainant will be advised of any delay At Stage 3 complainants should contact the complaints inbox upon which a complaint review will be undertaken by the Town Clerk & Chief Executive or a Senior Officer acting on his/her behalf. A full response should be provided within ten working days or the complainant will be advised of any delay.

If you have any specific questions or are seeking pre-application advice, please contact the Central Funding and Charity Management Team.