The headlines this week have been quite rightly dominated by Russia’s awful invasion of Ukraine and it is worth noting that we expect this will have a knock-on effect on the Veterans’ Foundation.
British troops are being deployed elsewhere in Europe to counter the threat and to help with refugees, among other tasks. Inevitably, this means that families will be on their own in British bases and they will have needs for which solutions will need funding, perhaps by the Veterans’ Foundation.
It is just as well then that through the public’s wonderful support of the Veterans’ Foundation (donations) and Veterans’ Lottery, we have £1.2M to award in grants in March. This is the second month running we have been able to award more than a million pounds.
I spend time with our grants staff running through bids for funds prior to Trustees’ Meetings and although the current deadline for bids is the end of this month, we have 55 bidders seeking over £1.4M. 16 of those 55 bids are first-time bidders so it is exciting to read their applications, covering new beneficiaries, sometimes in new ways, as word about the Veterans’ Foundation gets out deeper into the UK community.
Among the bidders are requests for funds to help Service families and veterans in a variety of ways, including counselling, adventurous activity, gardening, art, sport and housing, to name but a few. Please do all you can to ensure that charities and charitable organisations you know that are helping the Armed Forces community hear about us.
When the Veterans’ Foundation awards grants, we issue Terms and Conditions to make sure that grantees spend the money, public money, on projects that our trustees have agreed fall within the Veterans’ Foundation's purpose. This sounds rather bureaucratic, but we see it as a very necessary step to ensure that the money you raise for us is properly spent, so I hope you feel confident in our work.
Finally, the Memorial Wall is growing and we hope you find it a useful memorial that respects the service that people that given the country. If you have ideas how we can develop the Wall, please tell us and we will consider it. It is a memorial but it is also a way to raise funds so that we can help those in need, so please be generous.
