Since 2017, Bristol City Council has been using grant investment to tackle inequality across the city. This programme offers:

• four-year grant funding to Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations in the city
• two rounds of small grants for 2 years each to encourage new ideas and involvement from more diverse communities

2021 to 2026: The first two rounds of the Bristol Impact Fund (BIF1 and BIF2) provided grant investment to projects that build the power of communities facing disadvantage and inequality in the city, and aimed to:

• Increase resilience
• Enable social action
• reduce disadvantage and inequality
• improve wellbeing

2026-2030: The third round of the Bristol Impact Fund (BIF3) has a budget of £8.8 million over four years. BIF3 will build on the foundations of BIF1 and BIF2 to prioritise investments into neighbourhood organisations and citywide equalities communities that:

• increase the skills and knowledge held in community
• are aiming to address community-identified priorities through co-production with the community
• aim to tackle inequity

Types of grants available –

Medium or large grants

Applications for BIF 3 Medium and Large grants open 18 March 2025 and close 10 June 2025. BIF3 funding will run from 2026 until 2030. Medium and large grants will run for the full 4-year funding period tackling hate crime and discrimination:

• Medium grants between £11,000 and £55,000 per year
• Large grants between £56,000 and £110,000 per year

Small grants 

The purpose of the small grants fund is to encourage new ideas and involvement from more diverse communities. We will run two rounds of small grants and grants will last two years. The total amount of funding available each round will be £200,000 making a total allocation of £400,000 to small grants across the Bristol Impact Fund 3 programme.

The aim is for the first round of new small grants to start on 1 July 2026. Individual small grants will range between £2,500 and £11,000 per year.

FFI:  https://www.bristol.gov.uk/people-communities/grants-for-voluntary-and-community-organisations