Contents

What the Bristol Impact Fund is
Types of grants available
Apply for a grant
What we have funded so far

What the Bristol Impact Fund is

In 2017 Bristol City Council set out a new strategic approach to grant investment aiming to tackle inequality. This brought together 8 of the councils 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

Bristol Impact Fund first round, 2017 to 2021

The first round of the Bristol Impact Fund provided grant investment to projects that deliver support to people facing disadvantage and inequality in the city, and aimed to: 

  • reduce disadvantage and inequality 
  • improve health and wellbeing 
  • increase resilience 

The first round of the Bristol Impact Fund has now finished. 

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 was established with a budget of £6.4 million over 4 years. In 2024, it was extended for 6 months until March 2026 with a 10% uplift in medium and large grants.

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