The City and Guilds of London Institute (CGLI) was founded in 1878 by 16 Livery Companies. Since 1900 we have enjoyed Royal patronage, with our current President being Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, whom our flagship awards programmes, the Princess Royal Training Awards are named after.
In November 2025, CGLI split its activities into two, divesting its awarding, assessment and training activities. This enables City & Guilds Foundation – still legally CGLI – to focus as an independent charity with secure income, free to set its social purpose strategy.
The City & Guilds Foundation is an important vehicle for high impact social investment, employer recognition awards, fellowship and advocacy programmes. All of which champion skills and their place in society as a lever for social change.
Our Mission
At City & Guilds Foundation, we believe that skills are a catalyst for social and economic change. By supporting individuals, organisations, and communities, we aim to ensure that skills development leads to meaningful employment, personal growth, and stronger societies. Our work is currently organised around several key streams:
Grant making and Partnerships
We focus our funding where it matters most, supporting people who face the biggest barriers to work. We do this through a blended approach of grants, social investment funding and matched donations that open up opportunities for skills and employment – these are to both individuals and organisations such as charities or CICs. Everything we do is designed to remove barriers, build confidence, and create pathways into meaningful and sustainable employment. Find out more here.
Celebrating Best Practice
Using the power of celebration, we recognise and reward quality, excellence and outstanding results, whilst sharing best practice and inspiring change. Through an assortment of prestigious awards that honour employers, learners and tutors, and exceptional individuals, we aim to promote the acknowledgement, appreciation and celebration of individuals and organisations who demonstrate commitment and investment in skills development. This includes our flagship awards programme, The Princess Royal Training Awards which honours employers in the UK and Ireland who have created outstanding training and skills development programmes which have resulted in exceptional commercial benefits. Other award programmes include the Fellowship programme and Membership awards. Find out more here.
Advocating for Jobs of the Future
We champion innovation in skills and training, ensuring that individuals and employers are prepared for the changing world of work. Through our campaigns and advocacy work we want to enhance awareness around the barriers people face to accessing skills and challenge perceptions which adversely affect development opportunities for marginalised groups. Some of the work we’ve done in this space includes reporting on our impact in the Prison space – encouraging more employers to recruit those with convictions. More recently, we established our Neurodiversity Index in response to recognising that lots of the individuals we were supporting were neurodivergent. The Index highlights areas of progress, challenges and opportunities for fostering and inclusive work environment. Find out more here.
Our Impact
In delivering our goal of enhancing opportunities in skills and work, we are dedicated to ensuring that our work makes a real difference in people’s lives and we are proud of the impact that our work has had to date. From helping people reintegrate into society after prison, to recognising community champions, to advocating for vocational pathways in emerging industries, our work has shown that skills are central to opportunity and inclusion. In the last five years we have awarded £5.6m of grants to frontline charities and individuals and supported 15,000 individuals with funding. All our funding has delivered £23m of social return on investment. We are committed to measuring our impact annually. Find out more here.
Looking Ahead
While the Foundation has established strong streams of activity, our future strategy is now being developed, and this is an exciting moment of transition. The incoming Chief Executive and Chair will play a pivotal role in shaping the next phase of our journey, ensuring that our work remains relevant, ambitious, and impactful in a rapidly changing skills landscape. We are at a point of inflection in the 147-year history of the City and Guilds of London Institute where we can choose who we want to be and how we want to have impact, harnessing the strengths of our history and experience, and rising to the challenges presented by a turbulent world.
The new leadership will be tasked with:
- Defining the Foundation’s long-term vision and priorities
- Building on existing programmes while identifying new opportunities
- Strengthening partnerships across education, employment, and community sectors
- Ensuring that the Foundation continues to be a catalyst for opportunity, innovation, and inclusion.