[3] City of Sanctuary began in 2005 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, founded by Craig Barnett and Inderjit Bhogal.
"[4][3] Subsequently, cities such as Leeds, Hull,[5] York,[6] and Swansea started their own community groups to work towards the same purpose, and City of Sanctuary became a registered charity with the purpose of supporting and connecting these groups.
City of Sanctuary is involved in coordinating and supporting various multi-sector community groups, with connections to other related organisations in the UK such as the Refugee Council, British Red Cross, and Refugee Action[citation needed].
They also participated in the Sanctuary Summit in 2014, and were selected in 2015 for the Guardian Christmas Appeal, amid the response to the 2015 European migrant crisis.
[19][20][21] City of Sanctuary offers awards to community groups, private organisations, public sector services or other bodies that contribute towards the vision of the charity, as follows: