Taking action through the Aviva Foundation

Talking Money is a charity based in Bristol. Essentially we exist to relieve poverty, to combat financial exclusion and to promote access to justice for people experiencing financial problems.

So the Aviva Foundation has provided funding for us to work in partnership with another local advice agency St. Paul's Advice Centre and Advice UK, national membership body for advice centres.

And they have supported us over the last few years to put direct resource to working with clients in a different way.

So it's starting to look at root cause, starting to look at systemic issues, taking the time to think about the work we're doing with people and produce the work with people.

So one of the biggest challenges for us now is that we are seeing people, for example, who are employed, but whose wages don't even cover their basic day to day living costs.

So we're seeing people with rent arrears, council tax arrears, gas and electric water debts, but with no real obvious solution in sight.

So the impact that we are having as a result of the funding, it's helping us to work with clients for longer, so that we don't just solve their immediate crisis.

We help them to find the solution and stick with them after that crisis is gone, so that they're not back to us with another crisis in a year's time.

We're dealing with the most marginalised in society and those people can be stuck in poverty for significant chunks of their life and without kind of the interventions that we can do at potentially an earlier stage, before people get into real financial hardship.

Through 10 years of the Aviva Community Fund, we've seen what's possible when passion meets purpose, when people who care show up day in, day out, no matter what.

They are the heartbeat of their community, and we've met thousands of them over the past 10 years.

Change makers.

Doers who show what happens when belief turns into action and action turns into impact.

Shipping containers become cookery classrooms.

Straw bales become community halls.

Old buses become beds for the night.

They're out there every single day doing what needs to be done.

Giving fresh purpose to washed up plastic.

Bringing city kids into green spaces.

Sorting food bank donations at the crack of dawn.

Every small act adds up.

Every bee saved, every cuppa served, every seed sown.

It all matters.

And together all that hard work creates real, lasting change.

We're honoured to have helped fund over 9000 inspiring projects.

As communities evolve, so do we.

Staying in step to build strength, spread hope, Smiles, and a sense of belonging.

Because when we support what's at the heart of it all, we help build a brighter future for everyone.