London Plus

Who we are

London Plus is a unique organisation that supports and champions London’s charities and community groups to contribute to a united, thriving and resilient London.

Whilst London can be a fantastic city to live and work in, we also know that Londoners face significant challenges. This includes deep rooted inequalities in wealth, health and access to opportunities alongside the ongoing cost-of-living crisis including particular pressures on housing and high levels of unemployment.

Set up in its current form in 2019, London Plus has successfully established itself as a key part of London’s voluntary and community sector infrastructure - connecting London’s charities, communities, policymakers and funders. Through our work we ensure that charities are supported and recognised and are able to meet the opportunities and challenges of the future.

London Plus is a trusted partner of organisations across all London’s 32 boroughs, as well as working closely with key pan London organisations including the Greater London Authority and London Councils.

Our culture and values

Our values drive everything we do.

• We are open. We welcome ideas, connections, and potential collaborations. This helps us gather more useful information to help the sector, as well as right people and organisations to maximise the value of our work.
• We are humble. The impact and value of our work comes through the work of others – charities and community groups on the front-line. We simply aim to highlight, reinforce and support their work.
• We learn and adapt continuously. We cannot know fixed and permanent answers or truths. We adapt our views and intelligence as we gather more information, and are open to guidance, to corrections, and to any comments as well as criticisms that help us improve.
• We are ambitious. For the voluntary and community sector in London. Charities and community groups in London play a vital role. We want to help them do more, helping tackle disadvantage and inequalities in the city.
• We are passionate. Everything we do celebrates and empowers charities and community groups.
• We are informed. We gather evidence, data, insights and experience to understand charities and community groups in London. That way, we can advocate confidently on their behalf.
• We're here to help. We listen to charities and community groups in London, offering support when it’s needed.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

We are proud of our diverse city; however, we recognise that despite its diversity, prejudice and discrimination exists in a myriad of different forms, systems, processes and social norms that lead to and perpetuate significant inequality in our society, and significant disadvantage for certain groups.

We want a more equal and equitable London, and we recognise that this work starts with us.

At London Plus we are committed to building our understanding of privilege and prejudice, so we can better recognise and play our part in dismantling the deep-rooted systemic and structural inequalities that exist in our city.

We will ensure that our commitment to promote equity, diversity and inclusion is a meaningful commitment that everyone in the organisation understands and takes responsibility for. We see this work as fundamental to the values of London Plus and how our team works

The organisation has set five ambitious overarching goals for the way we work:

1. Commitment: Commitment to Equity Diversity and Inclusion will be threaded through all levels of the organisation and will have clear and visible leadership in the organisation
2. Culture: Everyone at London Plus will understand that this commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is fundamental to our values, our work and our relationships with colleagues, partners and stakeholders. We will foster a culture where our people feel valued, able and encouraged to contribute. We will encourage and listen to feedback and learn. We will review and strengthen policies and procedures as needed
3. Career: We will scrutinise and review our practices in order to recruit and develop a diverse workforce, with perspectives, experience, and expertise that reflects the city, communities, and sector we serve
4. Collaboration: We will promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in our partnerships, engagement, and interactions with all of our partners and stakeholders. We will work co-operatively with and learn from equalities organisations, ‘by & for’ organisations and people with lived experience in order to ensure we conduct our work in a way that challenges inequality and promotes equity
5. Communications: Our internal and external messaging will reflect our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. We will be open and transparent about our learning and development, especially where it may support other organisations to consider their own development in this area. Employees, Trustees, partners and stakeholders will understand that this commitment is fundamental to our values and all that we do