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Individuals & families
The Community Fund aims to ease financial pressure on individuals and families who fulfil certain requirements by helping them to buy the essential things they need or supporting them through a crisis.
We give help to people who satisfy the following criteria:
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Have a physical or sensory impairment or long-term physical health problem. |
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Live in Bristol or the surrounding area (South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset and Wiltshire). |
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Have a low income and limited savings. |
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Are 16 or over. |
The trust deed, which was set out by our founders specifies that we must only help people who meet all three of the above conditions. We can and do help people with dementia or people affected by the physical infirmities of old age but we do not help people with mental health problems or people with a learning disability unless they also have a physical or sensory impairment or long-term physical health problem.
We also help people who are in recovery from a drug or alcohol problem, provided they have been 'clean' for at least 6 months and also have a physical or sensory impairment or long-term physical health problem. We do not generally help people who have more than £3,000 in savings; the majority of the people we help have no savings at all.
How we can help you
We help in two ways: we might award you a gift to help you buy an item that you need; or we may offer you a short-term grant of monthly financial support for a short period of time to help you through a crisis. Whichever way we help, it will not affect your benefits, tax credits or tax.
Gifts
A gift is a grant to help you to buy something that you need, but cannot afford. The average amount we award is £250 and we do not often award gifts for more than £500. We can help with:
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Mobility aids, wheelchairs and scooters. |
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Adaptations to your home or to your car. |
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Domestic appliances e.g. washing machines and cookers. |
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Furniture and flooring. |
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Bedding, clothing and shoes. |
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Health costs e.g. pre-payment prescription certificates and glasses. |
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Communication aids e.g. computers, software and page turners. |
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Driving lessons, education course fees and work tools. |
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Bills and debts. |
This list doesn't cover everything. We will always consider helping with anything that is going to make a positive difference to your everyday life. For some items, e.g, adjustable beds, we will need a letter from your occupational therapist confirming that you need the item, that it is suitable and why it will not be paid for from statutory funds.
You should not have bought, ordered or paid a deposit for the item(s) you would like us to help with before you apply for a gift. There are a few things which we will never help with, whatever your situation. These are: holidays; gardening; bankruptcy fees; funeral expenses; decorating labour costs; respite care and care home fees.
Short-term grants
A short-term grant is a period of monthly payments that is designed to help you through a crisis. We pay £20 each week (£87 each month) for between just a couple of months up to a maximum of 3 years. We usually help people for between 6 and 12 months.
Everyone's situation is different, but the kinds of times we help are:
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To help you get back on track when debts build up. |
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To help you to adjust to a sudden loss of income. |
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To help with unexpected costs. |
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To help with the extra costs involved when undergoing chemotherapy, interferon or |
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similar treatments. |
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To help whilst you claim disability benefits or sort out problems with benefit and tax |
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credit claims. |
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To support you and your family through difficult times. |
We award short-term grants where, with our help, your situation is likely to improve in a short time. This means that we are not able to help where your debts are so large that our help will make little difference. We do not help with costs like bus fares, food or supplements because the need for these is ongoing and not just for a short time.
Sadly we cannot help everyone
The most common reason we turn down applications is because people do not meet our criteria. No matter how difficult your situation, we will not be able to help if you are not living in our area, do not have a physical or sensory impairment or long-term physical health problem or are asking for something for which we do not give grants. Please make sure that you check our criteria before you apply. If you are not sure whether to apply, please contact us to discuss your situation and we will be happy to advise you.
In order to ensure that we help those people who are most in need, we will consider whether there is any other help available to you before we decide whether we are able to award a grant. This means that we would expect you to have applied for relevant statutory grants such as Community Care Grant or Disabled Facilities Grant before asking us for help. If you have a trade or have served in the forces, we will refer you to the relevant benevolent funds that help people who have had particular jobs or employment. If you own your own home and are asking for help with repairs or improvements, we would expect you to investigate equity release schemes and charitable interest free loans before you ask us for help.
How to apply
We ask everyone who wants our help to fill in an application form. You can download an application form or you can contact us and ask us to send you a form. If possible, we ask that you apply through your social worker, advice worker or a similar professional. If you do not have anyone like this working with you, then you can still apply to us yourself. If you have any difficulties filling in the form, please contact us and we will be happy to assist. If needed, we can arrange a visit to help you fill in the application form.
What happens next?
Once you have sent us your application form, it will be carefully considered by a member of our team. We aim to contact you within two weeks of receiving your application form and may contact you if we need more information. We may also arrange to visit you to learn more about your situation. Please let us know if you would like us to visit you with a lip speaker, sign language or language interpreter. Once we have all the information we need, we will write to you to let you know whether or not you have been awarded a gift or short-term grant.
If we are not able to help you we will do our best to suggest other charities that you may approach. Alternatively please see below a list of other sources of information and help.
Other sources of help
Charities in Bristol providing grants to individuals in need
Charity Search 0117 982 4060
Helps elderly people in need to find charities that can help them.
Association of Charity Officers (ACO) Helpline 01707 651 777
Helps people in need to find charities that may offer help.
Gives details about the benevolent funds which help people who have worked in a particular trade or line of work.
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