Over £400k awarded by Westminster Brighter Futures Fund

“This is one of the most accessible grants to small and local grassroots organisations like ourselves. The team at Young Westminster Foundation are brilliant, they provide additional support in conjunction with the funding.”
YWF member

Young Westminster Foundation is pleased to announce that 32 grants totalling £419,139 have been awarded to youth organisations across Westminster in the sixth round of the Westminster Brighter Futures Fund. This investment will provide invaluable support for Westminster’s young people and their families over the coming 12 months. The Fund has become a vital lifeline for many organisations in Westminster who experience great demand for their services against a backdrop of financial uncertainty. 

We have seen costs continue to rise whilst many funders paused applications, resulting in increased demand and competition for funding. That is why we are grateful and proud to have grown the Brighter Futures Fund every year, with the help from our partners and corporate investors.

The Brighter Futures Fund is driving change through funding organisations that know their communities best. The majority of our grantees are equity-led organisations, deeply embedded in the local community in Westminster. This connection to the community means they are reaching and supporting young people who have historically faced the greatest barriers to opportunity, particularly those from global majority backgrounds living in areas with high levels of multiple deprivation.

The Fund prioritises funding for more inclusive activities, particularly during weekends and holidays when support is often hardest to find. And this year marks our strongest investment yet in SEND-focused projects. 

The strong and sustained participation in the projects – with most young people attending nearly every session offered – demonstrates that Brighter Futures projects resonate with and meet the needs of local children and families in the borough.

"We really feel at home, in fact more at home than home, there is a purpose, there is challenge and there is so much fun. The Youth workers put us (the older boys) in charge of fun activities for the little kids like treasure hunts and dodgeball contests. When I am given these roles I see myself change into someone who is a leader and it is really motivational that the younger kids then look up to me with respect, it drives me to want to achieve more."
(Brighter Futures Project Participant)

To find out more about this year's grantees, please click here.

This year's funding was made available by Westminster City Council with further contributions from our partners Shaftesbury Capital, Howard de Walden Estate, Eyre Estate, Lazari Investments Ltd, London Town Group, Aziz Foundation,  Berkeley Estate Asset Management, British Land, Capital Arches Group, FM Conway, Derwent London, GPE, Veolia, The Other House, Total Media, the Portman Foundation, as well as John Lyon's Charity, St Giles & St George and Westminster Almshouses.

Thank you for your support! 

If you would like to discuss how your business can support our Brighter Futures Fund, please contact zahid@youngwestminster.com.