Mayor's Fund for London

The Fund supports practical interventions addressing food insecurity, skills and employability pathways, education enhancements such as numeracy and literacy, mentoring, resilience-building, and sport-led initiatives to boost health and social connection in deprived areas. It funds project delivery, equipment, and events, with a focus on social mobility. For example, the Maths Week London School Activity Grant helps schools purchase resources or equipment to run activities during Maths Week London, prioritising schools with higher than average pupils on free school meals or in areas of deprivation. The Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition encourages sustainable business ideas from London students to make London cleaner, greener, and ready for the future. All funded work takes place within Greater London.

Eligible applicants include UK-registered charities, schools, sports clubs, and community groups delivering directly in high-deprivation London boroughs. The Fund prioritises organisations with local roots and a strong preference for smaller organisations. Beneficiaries are primarily underserved young Londoners facing risks from deprivation, race, disability, or exclusion. For specific programmes, schools in London boroughs with higher than average pupils on free school meals or in areas of deprivation are targeted, and the Entrepreneur Competition is open to individual students. No religious restrictions apply.

The Fund does not support work outside Greater London or initiatives that do not focus on children and young people. It also excludes non-youth-focused causes and activities that fall outside its stated priorities of education, employability, food access, wellbeing, and youth engagement.

The Fund makes single-year, project-based awards and does not require match funding. It provides small grants for schools to cover equipment and event costs, while the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition gives winning students a cash award plus expert mentoring from City Hall staff to bring their ideas to market. The Fund welcomes unsolicited approaches and works in partnership with corporate and public collaborators.