Strategic Plan
2013-17
Introduction
The Trust for London is an endowed Foundation with responsibility for three
funds: the Central Fund; the City Church Fund; and the Common Investment
Fund, which is a pooled fund that holds the investment assets which
represent the endowments of the Central and City Church funds. However,
with regard to the City Church Fund, the Trust has no say in how these funds
are distributed.
This Strategic Plan therefore relates to the Trust for London’s aims and
objectives in relation to the Central Fund for the current quinquennial 2013 to
2017.
The Trust’s Board comprises 18 people from a wide variety of backgrounds
and knowledge. It employs 18 staff.
Mission
We are a charitable organisation that exists to reduce poverty and inequality
in London. We do this by funding the voluntary and community sector and
others, as well as by using our own expertise and knowledge to support work
that tackles poverty and its root causes.
Overall Aims and Objectives
Overall Aim
To reduce the levels of poverty and inequality in London.
Objectives
1. To use the Trust’s resources to tackle poverty and inequality in London.
2. To manage the endowment effectively in order to maximise the amount
available for distribution whilst maintaining the real value of the Trust’s
permanent endowment.
Our Values
We recognise the freedom and responsibility that arises from our
endowment
and
our
independence
from
Government
or
vested
interests. We seek to use this freedom to be creative and innovative and
to take risks in responding to new or unpopular issues. We accept our
responsibility to act with integrity and transparency.
We are committed to working in an approachable and accessible way,
listening to and learning from those that we fund.
We believe that
commissioning research can improve understanding of the causes and
effects of poverty and inequality in London. We look to partnerships,
particularly with other funders, to help us to increase the impact of our
work. In all we do, we expect our Trustees and staff to behave responsibly,
ethically, collaboratively and with open minds.
Our Strategic Aims
1. To tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality in London by
funding voluntary and community sector organisations and
others to undertake work within agreed priority areas. For the
period 2013 to 2017, these are: Employment, Advice, Social
Justice, Violence and Small Groups.
We will do this by:
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Funding work which is innovative and challenging with the potential to
influence others.
Providing training and development support to organisations in order to
improve their skills and capacity, with a particular focus on learning and
campaigning.
Developing and undertaking proactive work within the priority areas to
identify gaps and improve sector networking to increase its influence
on decision-makers, where relevant and appropriate.
Developing supportive relationships with our funded groups and
actively encourage collaboration and networking between them.
2. To increase understanding and insights into poverty and
inequality in London and to explore potential solutions.
We will do this by:
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Commissioning research and investing in evaluation of policy and
practice.
Publishing London's Poverty Profile bi-annually and promoting the
findings to a broad audience of policy makers and practitioners.
Investing in specific initiatives to highlight gaps and responding to new
needs by piloting new responses and raising their profile.
Working collaboratively with other funders and key stakeholders where
appropriate.
Organising learning seminars and networking events.
Encouraging the replication of models that are shown to be effective.
3. To increase the impact of the Trust’s funded work by using our
own knowledge, expertise and resources.
We will do this by:
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Becoming known to policymakers and journalists as having unique
expertise on London poverty and inequality issues.
Supporting individuals and groups directly affected by poverty and
inequality to tell their stories in the media.
Proactively disseminating findings and learning from the work to a
broad audience.
Implementing our evaluation plan in order to assess and report on our
own impact and to share our learning.
Participating in policy forums which provide an opportunity to raise the
profile of funded work.
4. To maximise the amount available for distribution and to maintain
the value of the Trust’s permanent endowment in real terms.
We will do this by:
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Setting an asset allocation strategy that over the long term maximises
the total return generated and pays due regard to investment risk.
Focusing on investments which are expected to give good performance
in terms of their overall return, rather than investments which will give
the “right” balance between capital and income returns under the
standard Charity Commission rules for permanent endowments.
Considering and determining targets for the allocation of the
endowment as between property, equities, cash and near cash,
programme related/mission connected investments and other
appropriate asset classes as may be identified as part of the asset
allocation strategy, based upon actual and expected returns, with a
view to maximising the total return generated.
Managing the individual asset class portfolios (eg property, equities,
etc) with a view to maximising their total return.
Identifying acceptable investment risk over the longer term, taking into
account short-term liquidity needs.
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Securing good quality advice from a variety of sources including
independent co-optees, investment managers, advisers and by
attending/participating in appropriate events and training sessions
5. To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our organisation in
promoting our mission and values.
We will do this by:
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Ensuring that our systems and procedures are as fair, robust and
transparent as possible with regard to all aspects of the organisation.
This includes the recruitment of Trustees, staff and the
advisers/managers of our endowment.
Ensuring that all staff, Trustees and those involved in the work of the
Trust have access to appropriate training and development
opportunities.
Ensuring that all staff are clear about their role in contributing to the
strategic aims of the Trust.
Promoting good working relationships, communications and
consultation between staff, senior management and Trustees; and
undertaking a five yearly Staffing and Benefits Review.
Implementing our evaluation plan in order to assess and report on our
own impact and to share our learning.
Seeking recommendations from an externally commissioned Grantee
Perception Study which will assess our systems and procedures and
benchmark these against similar Foundations.
Promoting measures identified as having an impact on poverty and
inequality, including the London Living Wage, throughout the
organisation, to our advisers and investment managers, funded groups
and wherever we have influence.
Committing at least 5% of our total endowment to investments which
make a social as well as financial return.
Reviewing our investment policies regularly to ensure the maximum
return can be achieved in the most ethical way.
Reviewing our energy consumption and making improvements where
practicable.
January 2014