National charity Consortium has received funding from City Bridge Trust, the City Corporation’s charity funder, to create an online one-stop-shop for all LGBT+ services in London.

The new tool, FindOut, will provide a platform for the capital’s LGBT+ community to quickly and easily find local support services.

The online initiative will be launched at an event last night (Tuesday July 23), at Amnesty International in London, to an audience drawn from the voluntary, community, public and funding sectors and academics.

The work behind the website has highlighted gaps in service provision across the capital. And now Consortium, partnering with LGBT HERO, will work with London’s LGBT+ organisations to see how these can be filled by funders and commissioners.

The partnership will pinpoint where new services are needed, so all LGBT+ people across London can quickly and conveniently receive support.

Consortium, which received £200,000 from City Bridge Trust for a range of support for the capital’s LGBT+ organisations, will also build new sector networks and deliver new training on fundraising and campaigning, better governance work and on managing volunteers.

Dhruv Patel, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said:

“We are proud to support London’s LGBT+ community, working together to create new and faster access to vital services.

“Our partnerships are creating new conversations, providing reassurance and strengthening social networks right across the capital.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to access the support they really need.

“City Bridge Trust is committed to tackling disadvantage and inequality in London, and we will continue to support charities making the capital a better place to live.”

Paul Roberts, Chief Executive of the Consortium, said

“The sheer number of LGBT+ led services across London is astonishing. However, these just tell part of the story and our joint work with HERO, and others in the LGBT+ sector, highlights some very large gaps.

“Not every LGBT+ person is able to access the services they need or want in a way that is accessible to them. This isn’t right, so we have a wonderful opportunity now to explore both the development of future services, and how we increase the capacity of current services that LGBT+ organisations and others are already providing.

“Long-term social and policy change for the diversity of our communities is within our grasp. We look forward to working with our colleagues across London in to achieve this.”

Consortium is a national membership body, formed in 1998, whose aim is to develop and maximise the effectiveness of voluntary organisations run by and for LGBT+ people.

Consortium’s partners, LGBT HERO, is the parent organisation of GMFA, FS magazine and OutLife. Set up in 2011, HERO improves the health and well-being of LGBT+ people by offering trusted information and advice

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of the City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates. It is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital.

The Trust has awarded around 8,000 grants totalling over £400 million since it first began in 1995. It helps achieve the City Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners.

ENDS

Media Enquiries

Kristina Drake

Media Officer, City of London Corporation

Kristina.Drake@cityoflondon.gov.uk

07710860884 / 020 7332 1125

Notes to editors

About the City of London Corporation:

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally successful UK.

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk 

About City Bridge Trust

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of Bridge House Estates, a Registered Charity, with its primary aim the maintenance and support of five Thames bridges: Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Southwark, Blackfriars and the Millennium footbridge.

City Bridge Trust was established in 1995 to make use of funds surplus to bridge requirements and provides grants totalling around £20m per year towards charitable activity benefitting Greater London. The City of London Corporation is the sole trustee of the Bridge House Estates.