Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust: Hidden Voices Programme 2024/25

Overview

Programme Summary

• Grants between £3,000 and £25,000
• Open to registered charities, CICs and local authorities

Programme Aims

• To enable accessible, bespoke mental health and wellbeing support for those with seldom heard needs in the armed forces community, with a focus on prevention and early intervention.
• To enable that support through new collaborations between organisations serving the armed forces community and specialist organisations. To build future capacity

What are they looking to fund

Your project will need to meet both of the following outcomes: 

• Those who are underrepresented, or whose voices are seldom heard, within the armed forces community, have equitable access to mental health and wellbeing support which meets their specific needs.
• Awareness of the needs of underrepresented groups within the armed forces community has been raised among organisations supporting them, through mutual learning and knowledge exchange to embed best practice. 

Your project should be focused on supporting either serving personnel, veterans or their families or carers who are ’seldom heard’, to access defined or bespoke mental health and wellbeing support.

Eligibility

They invite applications from:

• UK based registered charities
• Community interest Company (CIC) with substantial recent experience of supporting Armed Forces communities.
• Local authorities

There is more detailed information about eligibility in the programme guidance available.

• Applicants need to clearly demonstrate that you have the skills and experience necessary to carry out your project. This can include working with other organisations - there is more information on working with others later in this document.
• They won’t fund projects which duplicate existing provision. Demonstrate how your project complements other work taking place.
• Show them what evidence you have to support the approach you seek to take and, crucially, how people from armed Forces communities have helped to shape this. 

As part of your application, they’ll ask you to show them that your project: 

• is needed and targeted
  • You should be able to clearly explain how you’ve identified the need for this project and how you will target the people who have the greatest need for support, including needs related to cost-of-living challenges.
• is user-led.
  • This means your project may stem from the results of consultation. Your organisation may be led by people who are from your beneficiary group, and you should have recent relevant experience of working with the target group. You may have a service-user steering group. Show them how the idea for your project has been shaped by the people it will benefit.
• has lasting impact
  • This means there should be a wider impact to your work, which will endure beyond the life of your grant. Your project should show that it offers a positive benefit to members of Armed forces communities.

Funding Level & Notes

You can apply for a grant of £3,000 to £25,000 in total towards a project being delivered over a period of up to 12 months.

If your application is successful, they may invite you to apply for supplementary funding during your project’s delivery, to support complementary initiatives which add value beyond the original project scope, or which offer opportunities to evaluate your project’s impact.

You are required to provide a budget breakdown. It is fine to show categories where relevant, for example ‘IT Equipment’, rather than listing every item of the IT equipment you require. However, you will need to give sufficient information to assure them that you have fully considered how much the work will cost and how you know this. If they award you a grant, you will need to send a full budget, and project milestones, before they can pay the first instalment of your grant.

Eligible costs

The Trust will consider applications that include a reasonable contribution to overhead/core costs. They would expect to see this reflected within your budget breakdown. It is highly unlikely that they will fund projects with budgets that are dominated by capital costs. They would not expect to fund the costs of purchasing a vehicle, but they would pay for mileage costs on vehicles used by your staff and volunteers. Costs can include:

• Staff time including admin support, freelancers, sessional staff and appropriate clinical supervision workers.
• Travel costs (fares or mileage) for staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries.
• Capital purchases to support project such as at materials, sports equipment, laptops, etc.
• Reasonable overheads reflecting project delivery and taking into account rising costs.

Themes and priorities

They want to support projects that address the unique mental health and wellbeing needs of marginalised groups focusing on prevention and early intervention.

Your project will need to meet both of the following outcomes:

• Those who are underrepresented, or whose voices are seldom heard, within the armed forces community, have equitable access to mental health and wellbeing support which meets their specific needs.
• Awareness of the needs of underrepresented groups within the armed forces community has been raised among organisations supporting them, through mutual learning and knowledge exchange to embed best practice.