Veterans Foundation Grants

The Veterans’ Foundation provides grants to eligible organisations that provide assistance to serving and former members of the armed forces community, operational qualified seafarers and their immediate families.

The trustees will consider a range of factors including the projects or items being funded, the number of beneficiaries, the importance of the grant to the applicant organisation, the efficiency of the organisation and the needs of the beneficiaries.

The Small Grants programme with rolling funding, has no specific closing date and is for amounts of £500 to £5,000.

The Small Grants programme was set up to support primarily small, grassroots groups to flourish in the Armed Forces Community and to deliver impactful community-based activities.

The Standard Grants programme has quarterly grant rounds and is for amounts from £5,001 to £30,000.

The Salary Grants programme is up to £25,000 oer year for up to three years (maximum of £75,000) for the exclusive use of salary costs over a three-year period.

The Veterans’ Foundation encourages applications from under-represented groups such as:

• People with additional support needs
• Ethnic minorities
• LGBT+ community
• Female groups

Organisations that are eligible to apply for the Small Grants Programme:

All registered charities and other not-for-profit groups that support their beneficiaries may apply. The following exceptions apply:

• Groups with an annual income above £100,000
• Community Interest Companies (CICs) Ltd by shares
• CIC’s or other companies who have registered a ‘Persons with Significant Control’ on Companies House
• Private Limited Companies (PLCs) Ltd
• Statutory organisations – Local Authorities, NHS, Educational institution
• Individuals

Organisations that are eligible to apply for the Standard and Salary Grants Programme:

All registered charities and other not-for-profit organisations (as per the eligibility
checker) that support their beneficiaries may apply. Please note that they are unable to accept applications from organisations who have noted on Companies House that an individual has any type of significant control within a company.

Other eligibilty criteria may apply, please check on their website.

What they will not fund:

• Organisations that do not provide direct service delivery to Veterans or their families, (however, we will consider funding research that will bring benefit to Veterans)
• Work usually considered a statutory or local authority responsibility
• Schools, colleges, or universities, except for schools where the majority of pupils are connected to the Armed Forces’ community
•  Startup costs, organisations that do not yet have a track record of service delivery, and that have not yet produced annual accounts. *Not applicable to the Small Grants Funding Programme
• Overseas trips unless there is benefit over carrying out the activity in the UK; match funding should be secured, and the environmental impact of the overseas trip should have been taken into consideration
• General appeals or applications requesting donations
• Gap years and study trips or fundraising expeditions. If you are fundraising for the Veterans’ Foundation, please contact them
• Campaigning or lobbying projects, or general awareness raising work
• Organisations which do not have an up-to-date safeguarding policy. *Not applicable to the Small Grants Funding Programme
• Retrospective funding respects i.e., for activities that have already taken place or money that has already been spent
• The repayment of loans or debts
• Armed Forces Day celebrations
• Cadet Groups, unless the grant purpose is to specifically support the activities of
  veterans who are associated with the Cadets

Small Grant Programme is rolling and has no specific end date.

Standard/Salary Grants Programme deadlines are:

• 21/07/2025 – for a decision by end of September 2025
• 08/10/2025 – for a decision by end of December 2025