The pandemic hit community and voluntary organisations particularly hard.

To aid these groups’ recovery, Bristol City Council (BCC) set up The Community Resilience Fund: a one-off capital grant fund that would help make them more sustainable and enable them to continue their vital work for the long term.

In line with their values, BCC made the fund a participatory grantmaking process (PGM). They invited potential grantees to help design the fund. And they wanted to compensate participants for their time.

In partnership with The Social Change Nest, BCC were able to do this easily through Open Collective, where participants could draw down funds to compensate for their time and involvement.

In total, we were able to pay out more than £8,000 in compensation and expenses – saving BCC considerable time and admin hassle in the process.