Applications for the 2025 Community Fund are now open.
Click here to apply. All submissions must be received by November 21.
Recently awarded
When awarding funding, we focus on activities that support Cory’s wider goals of:
- Enhancing the local environment
- Preventing waste and growing the reuse economy
- Developing skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), sustainability, recycling, reuse, and waste management, as well as on the River Thames
In 2024, Cory distributed funding to some of the following organisations:
A community Sea Cadet Unit based on the Isle of Dogs, providing maritime enrichment to young people at two local schools, from age 11 from all backgrounds, genders and religions.
"We have gone from strength to strength. We are so grateful to Cory for helping us and being the first company to believe in us. You have changed a lot of lives for the better and made memories that will never be forgotten. From us all: thank you."
Paul Brew, Owner & Director of City Sailing and Training
London Legacy is a global campaign by Common Purpose which invests in young people across the world so they can become a connected generation of leaders with a clear vision for what their legacy will be. Read the 2025 Impact Report here, and see some of the highlights from the April event here.
“We need a new generation of young leaders to come through who have the commitment and ability to bridge divides. We all need to hear and support our young people with their big ideas and long-term thinking. Legacy is Common Purpose’s way of investing in the next generation but we cannot do that without the support of organisations like Cory. Our local Legacy sponsorship consortia enable us to offer the programme completely free-of-charge to 18-25 year-olds. Cory’s sponsorship went beyond the purely financial, as senior leaders took the time to meet and interact with our participant group, something that delivered mutual benefits.“
Marie Mohan, Managing Director – Social Value
Mama2Mama BabyBank is like a food bank but for baby essentials. They collect new and pre-loved items for new-borns to 3 year olds from the local community, and give them to families who are in urgent need of help.
"Cory has been a supporter of our baby bank from very early stages, whether through volunteering or by giving us this grant. We are very appreciative to have a local, sustainable partner from the local community."
Emma Feleppa, Grants Officer at Mama2Mama BabyBank Woolwich
An environmental and community regeneration charity with a mission to transform lives, places and communities in need in London.
TRUP promotes re-use by encouraging people to donate unwanted items, which they offer for sale at affordable prices. They provide volunteering opportunities and the prospect of learning new skills and improving social interaction for vulnerable adults.
Since 2022, The Woodshop of Recycled Delights CIC has been addressing the pressing issue of wood waste while harnessing its potential.
They empower people to up-cycle waste wood, get involved in their local green spaces, share resources and keep making. They do this by teaching woodworking workshops, creating volunteering opportunities, and constructing sustainable timber infrastructure for community projects across London.
"This grant has enabled WoRD to continue and deepen its work in an area of great need, allowing us to make impact where it’s most important. Thank you!"
Harry Morgan, Co-Founder and Director of the Woodshop of Recycled Delights
We fund groups and projects that play a role in strengthening local communities, with a particular focus on activities that support Cory’s wider goals of:
- Enhancing the local environment
- Preventing waste and growing the reuse economy
- Developing skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), sustainability, recycling, reuse, and waste management, as well as on the River Thames
Grants are available to groups based in the boroughs in which Cory operates:
- Barking and Dagenham
- Bexley
- City of London
- Gravesham
- Greenwich
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Havering
- Hertfordshire
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Lambeth
- Newham
- Redbridge
- Thurrock
- Tower Hamlets
- Wandsworth
- Westminster
You can apply if your organisation is a:
- Voluntary or community organisation
- Registered charity
- Constituted group or club
- Not-for-profit company or community interest company
We are unable to accept applications from:
- Statutory bodies
- Schools
- Individuals
- Sole traders
- Companies that can pay profits to directors, shareholders or members (including companies limited by shares)
- Organisations based outside the UK
- Organisations that don’t have at least two people on their board or committee who aren’t married, in a civil partnership, in a long-term relationship, living together at the same address, or related by blood
- One organisation applying on behalf of another
Cory can fund:
- Your organisation’s running costs
- Essential items and equipment
- Capital project costs
- One-off events
- Staff costs
- Training costs
- Volunteer expenses
We are unable to fund:
- Alcohol
- Contingency costs, loans, endowments or interest
- Profit-making/fundraising activities
- VAT you can reclaim
- Statutory activities
- Overseas travel
- Campaigning activities
- Religious activities (we can fund religious organisations if your project benefits the wider community and doesn’t include religious content)
- Political or lobbying activities
Cory’s employee Community Fund Committee review and score projects against a number of criteria, including whether the project goals are clearly outlined, whether the project is aligned with the application criteria and whether it has been clearly defined how the project will help the community.
We might get in touch to talk to you about your application before making our selection.
You will be informed via email and / or telephone whether your application has been successful.
All successful recipients will be asked to sign a funding agreement, which means the project will be delivered in accordance with the application as far as possible and will complete a project monitoring form on the project once the funding cycle is completed.
If you make small changes to your activities, or what you want to spend the money on, that’s okay, as long as you’re still using the funding to carry out the project you told us about in your application. However, you should contact us if:
- The main contact for your project changes
- You’ve finished the project and you have more than £1,000 of the Cory funding left over
- You want to make significant changes to the project or spend the money on very different things
- You can’t carry out the project or activities for any reason
If you are successful, we’ll require your organisation’s bank account details. When the funding arrives in your account, you can start spending it one the activities you told us about in your application.
Please keep records of the things you spend your funding on – and keep track of how it fits with your application. We want to make sure that the funding is being spent the way you said it would. Keeping bank statements can be a good record of what you’ve spent.
We may ask for updates on your activities and project. We may also ask to see copies of receipts, invoices or bank statements relating to your project for at least seven years.
If you’re successful in receiving a grant from the Cory Community Fund, we will publish details of your project and how we’ve supported it in our sustainability report, and may request photos from you. We may also ask that we feature your project in other materials, such as on our website, LinkedIn page, Twitter or our Annual Report.
We encourage you to share the good news too, and to keep telling everyone about the difference your project is making to your community. If you’d like to use our logo on your communications, you can get it touch with us.