Changing Bristol’s community charity merry-go-round – how one group is funding from the grassroots up

A group of people in Bristol trying to create a grassroots, community-led fundraising support network that will act as an alternative to the established grant-givers and charity networks in the city have raised another £10,000 and are inviting bids for it.

It will be the fifth time in three years that Redistro – a small group of volunteers who wanted to do something a bit different to challenge the way charity is distributed in Bristol – have opened up their process for accepting applications for the money they’ve raised.

The small group hit the headlines last year when their fourth fundraising round was boosted to £15,000 by the unspent money raised to pay defence costs and possible fines incurred by the Colston Four. They were found not guilty so never had to pay any fines, so the money raised by people in Bristol for them was passed on to Redistro.

Read next: This is what will happen to the unspent thousands raised for the Colston 4

This year, the small group have raised £10,000 and are inviting grassroots groups and organisations to apply for up to £1,000 of that. They are looking for groups in Bristol, many of whom don’t normally receive grants or donations, or who might not have received anything before.

“We are excited to share that we have raised £10,000 and are now accepting applications,” said a spokesperson. “We are a small group of volunteers. We raise money and distribute it to groups in Bristol working to challenge inequality and injustice and creating positive alternatives. We’ve distributed around £40,000 to small grassroots groups, most of whom had never received funding before.

“Bristol Redistro’s aim is to challenge inequality of wealth and power and to create positive alternatives,” she added. “We give money to support the struggles, fights, campaigns and projects of groups and communities facing discrimination (due to their class, ability, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, age, immigration status or other factors) and who are working towards justice and equality,” she said.

“You need to be a non-profit community organisation. You don’t have to be formally registered as a charity, Community Interest Company etc. or have a constitution. You could be a newly-formed group of people who want to tackle an issue together.

“You need to have an annual income of less than £25,000. We’re looking for groups that struggle to get funding elsewhere, particularly if other funders might consider them to be too radical.

“You need to make decisions democratically and strive to be accessible and inclusive of people of different backgrounds and abilities,” she added. “There are no restrictions on what you use the funds for. We all know how to transform our own situations, and have the right to determine our own futures. We’re not interested in making judgements on what communities other than our own decide to do to improve their lives,” she said.

This is now the fifth round of funding – earlier rounds saw individual grants of up to £1,000 given to a huge range of community groups – from the Bristol Sex Workers Collective to a church-based gardening organisation called Hazelnut Community Farm, and from Kiki Bristol, the LGBT+ group for black and brown people in the city, to Filwood Community Market, a group of people in Knowle West setting up a regular market.

The last round of £15,000 was specifically donated to local black and brown-led groups – applicants were brought together to celebrate their work and learn from each other in a specially arranged day.

“The Glad Colston’s Gone campaign ran a crowdfund to raise funds to support the four people who were facing criminal damage charges for toppling the Colston statue in June 2020,” a spokesperson explained. “Since they were found not guilty the funds were no longer needed and the decision was taken to hand it over to Redistro to distribute to local Black and Brown-led groups. The funds came to £13,518 and PRSC/Stokes Croft China, who made the Colston 4 supporters’ mug, also contributed, bringing the total to £14,851.

“We received 30 applications for this round and it was incredible to see the range of groups active here in Bristol, often working hard behind the scenes and with little support. We asked Black and Brown people from our previously funded groups to form a panel to shortlist the applications. Six people came forward for this job and shortlisted 15 groups who were all invited to spend a day together on 28 May 2022 and all received £1,000 funding,” she added.

Redistro has a crowdfunder that’s continually open. “The more we raise, the more we can support and additional donations are very much welcome,” said the spokesperson.

• To find out more about the criteria for applying for the money and how to do it, click here. Applications are open until May 1.

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