Community Giving
Supporting independence for older people
As part of our Community Giving we're able to help tackle issues that affect the lives of older people in Bristol and the surrounding area. The Community Giving team currently distributes more than £500,000 each year to individuals, families and organisations across the region. We provide gifts and grants that go directly to those who will benefit the most and we are committed to helping more people by increasing our giving over the next few years.
Funding for individuals...
Who do we help?
Our aim is to help you live independently in your own community for as long as possible. We do this by helping you with items that you need, or by supporting you through a financial crisis.
We help people who satisfy the following criteria:
- Have a physical disability or long-term physical health problem
- Live in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset or Bath and North East Somerset
- Have a low income and limited savings
- Are over 40 years of age
How can you help me?
We help in two ways: we might provide you with a gift or we may offer you a short-term grant of monthly financial support to help you through a crisis. Whichever way we help, it will not affect your benefits, tax credits or tax.
What are gifts?
A gift is a one-off item that we provide to you. We can help with a range of items, including:
- Disability-related items or adaptations
- Domestic appliances, e.g. washing machines and cookers
- Furniture and flooring
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.
Unfortunately, there are things which we can’t help with. These include:
- Holidays
- Gardening
- Bankruptcy fees
- Funeral expenses
- Decorating labour costs
- Respite care
- Care home fees
What is a short term grant?
A short-term grant is a monthly payment that is designed to help you through a crisis. The average grant is £110 per month, for an average of three to six months.
The kinds of issues we provide grants for are:
- To help you adjust to a sudden loss of income, or when debts have built up
- The extra costs involved when undergoing chemotherapy, interferon or similar treatments
- Help whilst you claim disability benefits or address problems with benefit and tax credit claims
This is not an exhaustive list. Unfortunately, we cannot help with ongoing daily living costs.
How do I apply?
We ask everyone who wants our help to fill in an application form. You can either complete the form online or contact us to request a paper copy in the post. If you have any difficulties filling it in, please contact the community fund team on 0117 949 4003 and we will be happy to assist.
Sadly we can't help everyone
The most common reason we turn down applications is because people do not meet our criteria. Please make sure that you check our criteria before you apply. If you are not sure whether to apply, please contact the community fund team to discuss your situation and we will be happy to advise you.
For more information
If you have any questions or would like to talk to us, you can contact the Community Giving team on 0117 949 4003 or email communityimpact@stmonicatrust.org.uk