Preventing Victims Fund

The Preventing Victims Fund is only open to groups that already provide services to victims of crime. This fund aims to complement these services. It does that by enabling groups to explore approaches that could prevent people from becoming victims in the first place.

Preventing Victims Fund

This is an opportunity to bid for a grant of up to £20,000.

The Fund is being run as a partnership between the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), Somerset Community Foundation and Quartet Community Foundation.

It is only open to groups that already provide services to victims of crime.

Why have we created this fund?

The OPCC funds various services to support victims to cope and recover following a crime.

This fund aims to complement these services. It does that by enabling groups to explore approaches that could prevent people from becoming victims in the first place.

This focus on prevention is one of the key priorities of the Police and Crime Plan.

What do we want to fund?

There are some essential things that we’re interested in. If you don’t think you can show these, then this might not be the right funding opportunity for you.

Your project must:

be collaborative. This means either your group working with another, or taking a user-led approach with the communities you seek to support.
focus on impact. This means either introducing something with an existing evidence base, or having a clear plan to evaluate your work.
contribute to the aims of the Police and Crime Plan. This means being able to show that it meets one or more of the Plan’s priorities.

And it would be desirable if you can:

show how you’ve worked in a collaborative way in the past.
address underlying factors or causes of crime and victimisation.
apply knowledge and learning from service users.
promote inclusion and diversity, support marginalised communities, or take an intersectional approach.
contribute to the wider evidence base for similar services.

Please note: groups which are and are not currently commissioned by the OPCC can apply.

Need inspiration?

You’ll know what’s needed as you work with victims of crime every day. But here’s some of the things we’ve been reading about as we prepared this fund:

Bystander interventions to prevent intimate partner and sexual violence.
Intervening early to stop those who are vulnerable being drawn into crime.
Breaking the cycle of repeat victimisation.

How do I apply?

The first step is to send an expression of interest. Please head over to your relevant Community Foundation to find out what needs to be included in the expression of interest.

Somerset Community Foundation covers groups based in Somerset.
Quartet Community Foundation cover groups based in Bristol, B&NES, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire

The express of interest deadline is 5.00pm on Friday the 25th of August 2023.

Successful expressions of interest groups will then be asked to complete a full application in September.

Successful applicants will receive their grant in December 2023.

The Commissioner’s Crime Prevention Fund

Community groups and charities can apply for grants of between £1,000 to £5,000 from the Commissioner’s Crime Prevention Fund to help create safer communities for all.

Funding round now closed (June 2023).