What We Learned Giving Out 85 Washing Machines

Last year, Bristol Charities provided 85 households in Bristol with washing machines, offering a simple yet transformative change for families who couldn’t afford one. For many of us, throwing on clean clothes is routine, but for others, it can mean the difference between attending work with confidence or feeling too embarrassed to go. A washing machine can play a crucial role in enabling a parent to keep their job or encouraging a child to go to school with pride. We’re proud to have made that small but significant difference in people’s daily lives.

At the same time, we’re always asking ourselves an important question: how can we do even more with the resources we have? Bristol Charities stewards grant funding with care, supporting individuals and organisations directly, but our deeper mission is to understand how to use these funds in the most impactful, equitable and sustainable ways to help people thrive, not just survive.

We believe in thoughtful giving, and that means ensuring our support lifts people up, preserves dignity, and addresses structural inequality rather than unintentionally reinforcing it. We’re actively exploring how to distribute grants in ways that empower communities, reduce barriers, and centre people’s real experiences and needs. Our aim is to combine compassion with strategy, and kindness with long-term impact.

Across the sector, a seismic shift is happening. Grant giving charities are reviewing what they do and how they do it. Several funding charities, like the Albert Hunt Trust, have recently closed their doors forever, citing the impossible demands of ‘a time of unparalleled need’ following the pandemic and cost of living crisis. Other charities, like the Schroder Charity, are pausing their grant giving to review how they can be most effective. And all have a deep-rooted concern about their responsibility to civil society and how grant-giving fulfils their core purpose.

Bristol Charities has started to consider how it uses its grants for the maximum impact. We are trying some different ideas and seeing where they take us. For instance, we are co-designing services with specialists in their field: the Carers Community Cafés have been developed with Carers Support to meet the need they know is priority, using Bristol Charities’ Carers Fund to resource the service.

We are also empowering our highly experienced staff who work directly with people in our communities to tailor what grants buy for an informed impact. So, it may not be a washing machine that is needed, but a new pair of school shoes.

And while 85 washing machines represent a meaningful investment in people’s wellbeing, they also raise important questions about sustainability. That’s a lot of metal, and we must consider the environmental impact of what we buy, especially when those items could one day end up in landfill.

At Bristol Charities, we believe it’s possible to care for both people and the planet. We’ve already taken steps in the right direction, partnering with the British Heart Foundation to source some of our furniture more sustainably, but we know there’s more we can do.

We’re now actively exploring how our purchasing power can drive wider change, choosing suppliers, partners and products that align with our values and contribute to a more circular, sustainable economy. Every choice we make, from large-scale investments to household essentials, is a chance to demonstrate that social justice and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. It is a privileged position (and one we hold with great responsibility) to take the time to think about how we can optimise our impact.

But it is our responsibility to embrace that opportunity, to act with intention, strive for continuous improvement, and use the influence entrusted to us to drive meaningful, lasting change. Bristol Charities is on a journey, working to hold both of these truths – meeting urgent, everyday needs while also investing in long-term, systemic solutions that create lasting impact.