Disability Rights UK announce ten-year funding from City Bridge Foundation
The programme awards long-term core funding to second-tier organisations providing support to London’s frontline groups led by and for their communities. Whilst different in focus and approach, the funded organisations are all focused on systems change to address discrimination and inequality.
This is particularly exciting as it will facilitate our working even more closely with Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs), focusing on issues we know affect them.
So over the next decade we will:
- Develop capacity for individual DPOs through support, training and resources across key areas such as HR, recruitment, leadership, governance, IT, data management, evaluation and fundraising.
- Promote movement building and the independence of smaller and specialist DPOs, giving them and intersectional groups opportunities to have their voices heard across all relevant policy areas.
- Champion the DPO sector, raising awareness of its value and impact through regular ‘State of Sector’ reporting.
- Align this with our Funding Justice work to ensure fairness and equity in how ‘by and for’ organisations are funded: we will challenge barriers to funding, lobbying government to comply with UNCRPD (United Nations Commission for the Rights of Disabled People) obligations.
We will do this through working co-productively with DPOs, partner organisations and stakeholders, being ambitious in bringing about positive change for Disabled people, whose human rights are the ultimate aim of this work.
Disability Rights UK Chief Executive Kamran Mallick says:
‘We are thrilled to receive this transformative ten-year funding from City Bridge Foundation through its Anchor Programme. This investment will significantly strengthen Disability Rights UK's capacity to support and champion Disabled People's Organisations across London, enabling us to address systemic barriers and amplify the voices of Disabled people.
We look forward to collaborating with the other organisations awarded under this programme, working collectively to ensure our efforts are impactful and rooted in equity, co-production and the pursuit of human rights for all Disabled people.’
City Bridge Foundation is a world class bridge owner and London’s biggest independent charity funder.
We currently award over £30 million to charities across the capital and have made a further £200 million available in the five years to 2026 to support London’s charity sector.
Our sole trustee is the City of London Corporation – the governing body for the Square Mile. Members of the Court of Common Council – the City Corporation’s primary decision-making body – form the City Bridge Foundation Board and associated committees which govern our activities. Co-opted Members from outside City Corporation sit alongside them.