In 2017 Bristol City Council set out a new strategic approach to grant investment aiming to tackle inequality. This brought together 8 of the council’s grant funds to create a new programme called the Bristol Impact Fund (BIF).

This programme offered:

• four-year grant funding to Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations in the city
• smaller grants for 18 months to encourage new ideas and involvement from more diverse communities

People’s Voice project

The People’s Voice project is part of the Bristol Impact Fund.

At the moment there is no organisation in Bristol for disabled people with learning difficulties (traditionally known as people with learning difficulties and disabilities) which is led by disabled people with learning difficulties .

The Bristol Impact Fund set aside some of its money to fund some research to find out if disabled people with learning difficulties wanted their own organisation.

Bristol Impact Fund second round, 2021 to 2025

The goal of the second round of Bristol Impact Fund is to grow the power of local communities that experience the greatest inequality.

The second round of Bristol Impact Fund has a budget of £1.45 million in year 1 and then £1.65 million for years 2, 3 and 4 each, totalling £6.4 million over 4 years.

Over these 4 years, the Bristol Impact Fund aims to help equalities-led groups, neighbourhood communities and people experiencing the greatest inequality to:

• self-organise and pursue collective priorities
• access trusted, empowering support
• build strong organisations taking forward community priorities
• collaborate and bring about meaningful changes

Small grants

The purpose of the small grants fund is to encourage new ideas and involvement from more diverse communities.

Small grants are between £2,500 and £10,000 per year.

There’ll be two funding rounds of small grants, each lasting 18 months and with £150,000 available in each round:

• round 1 is from July 2022 to December 2023
• round 2 is from January 2024 to June 2025

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