Can Do Bristol is the city’s digital home for volunteering, social action and neighbour-to-neighbour kindness.
The platform plays a central role in Bristol’s ambition to build a more resilient, collaborative and compassionate city.
Over four years, Bristol City Council has averaged a volunteering investment of £317,776 per year via Can Do Bristol – and the true figure is likely to be much higher.
Innovate UK
But, like many urban places, it faces deep inequalities within and between neighbourhoods. Some residents experience barriers to getting involved, while community groups often struggle to reach the people who could benefit most from their support.
Back in 2016, Bristol City Council set out to change this by making volunteering more accessible, strengthening cross-sector collaboration and enabling communities to mobilise using the assets already around them.
This mission became critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the city needed a coordinated volunteer response at unprecedented scale.
Can Do Bristol helped:
As Deputy Mayor Cllr Asher Craig said:
The people of Bristol show kindness every day. Can Do Bristol played a crucial role in supporting the huge volunteer efforts that quickly emerged to help our shielding residents.
Can Do Bristol gives individuals, groups and organisations the tools they need to create positive change.
The platform supports over 12,000 members, attracts around 20,000 visits per month and has connected thousands of people with ways to get involved.
Can Do Bristol helps thousands of people in the city to connect with their neighbours. It enables and celebrates community action across the city.
Marvin Rees, former Mayor of Bristol
Key features include:
Volunteer management
A flexible system for creating, promoting and joining volunteering opportunities.
Asks & Offers Exchange
A digital marketplace where groups request support and businesses offer skills, time or resources.
Targeted opportunities
Tools that surface relevant volunteering and support options by theme, location or user need.
Community stories
Content that celebrates acts of kindness and showcases community-led impact across the city.
Partnership building
Infrastructure that helps residents, grassroots groups and large organisations work together.
Insight & reporting
Tools that help Bristol City Council understand engagement and demonstrate impact.
In 2025, our team worked closely with Bristol’s Lived Experience Recovery Organisation (LERO) to explore how the platform could better support people affected by drug and alcohol use.
Via co-design workshops, the LERO group stressed the need for a supportive, non-judgemental space where people in recovery (and their carers) feel heard, understood and empowered. This shaped the next evolution of the platform: Can Do Recovery.
Can Do Recovery provides:
It is a natural extension of the platform’s core purpose: helping people to help each other in meaningful, human ways.
As Can Do Bristol continues to grow, it remains a powerful example of what’s possible when a city invests in volunteering, peer support and community-led solutions.
The launch of Can Do Recovery marks the next chapter for Can Do Bristol - broadening the platform’s reach, strengthening partnerships and ensuring that every resident, whatever their challenge or circumstance, feels supported.
Together, we’re building a city where everyone can contribute, everyone can belong and everyone can make a difference.
Working with you has been a really positive experience. You not only understand the tech side better than we ever could, but you also really get our values and what we're trying to do. It's rare to find a team that’s both technically strong and genuinely aligned with how we want to work - open, honest and human. You've been so patient with all our team changes, and the attention to detail has been incredible. We'd absolutely recommend you.
Ellie Stevens, Community Resources Manager, Bristol City Council
Packed with practical take-aways, we explore the strategies, challenges and stories behind place-based change.
