London Plus

Who we are

London Plus is new a pan-London civil society organisation, set up in 2018 with a small team that that focuses on the following work areas:

• Data & intelligence
• Networks/partnerships
• Advocacy and voice
• Communications/digital content and operations
• Employment and skills policy and project work   

We emerged out of a shared consensus that although social action by volunteers and the wider civil society sector has made a significant difference to Londoners, a more unified approach was needed to help the public, politicians and business better understand the range, complexity and importance of the work that civil society does.

With an estimated 120,000 civil society organisations in the capital, a Deputy Mayor with an explicit brief on volunteering, social action, social integration and community engagement, and a move to make London the foremost global city for philanthropy, there was an opportunity to support civil society in a different way, by creating a centralised knowledge and information ‘hub'. Greater London Volunteering, our legacy body, took on the role of implementing this new ‘hub’ and London Plus launched in 2018 with support from City Bridge Trust, with a new look and a new remit.

We have achieved a great deal over the last year, working with our networks to define the main areas where they want support and need new input. We have developed a portfolio of priority projects that we will work on in the coming 12-18 months. This programme will evolve and grow as we continue to work with the sector and understand their needs more deeply. Below is a snapshot of projects we have started delivering in the last eight months: 

• Defining an equality monitoring data standard for deaf and disabled people/organisations;
• Co-ordinating a programme of support for voluntary sector consortia in London – in partnership with Pilotlight and DAC Beachcroft
• Employment & skills policy – Conved the Good Work Commission which will produce a series of case studies and a final report on what ‘good work’ looks like for all Londoners
• The development of a dynamic content strategy for the London Plus website that promotes and advocates the work of CSOs through case studies, examples of good practice and downloadable resources.