How did the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust respond to the Covid-19 pandemic?

In this issue of our newsletter; we’re sharing more information on the impact of our work. We have three new reports avaliable on our website…

 

• Evaluation of the Strengthening Delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant Programme
• How the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust responded to the Covid-19 pandemic
• Enabling immediate support for vulnerable veterans with reduced social contact

REMINDER – Our programme ‘Sustaining Support’ closes on the 9th September. This is the final and last round for this programme so don’t forget to put in applications before the deadline. Details can be found here.

Strengthening and Empowering Delivery of the Covenant:
Evaluation of the Strengthening Delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant Programme

Under the Strengthening Delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant Programme The Covenant Fund awarded £6.6M through two rounds of funding to clusters of Local Authorities (LAs).

They used the funding to work with other Local Authorities in their areas enabling them to deliver projects linked to needs identified by their Local Covenant Partnerships and find ways to ensure that Armed Forces communities locally could access the right types of services and support.

Projects typically sought to build local capacity and improve awareness of the Armed Forces Covenant. In the second round, funding was also made available to establish drop-in centres in places where these did not exist.

This report is an external evaluation by RAND Europe. The report found that the funding had a significant positive impact on delivery of the Covenant Read the report here

How the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust responded to the Covid-19 pandemic 

This report explores how the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.

2020 was no ordinary year. The Covid-19 pandemic caused various challenges for many organisations supporting the Forces community and the Trust was determined to do all we could to keep supporting our grant holders and their beneficiaries. By the end of August 2020, we’d awarded nearly £9 million through three dedicated funding programmes, all specifically addressing the challenges faced by vulnerable members of our Forces communities.

We’ve published a report that explores how the Trust supported Armed Forces communities that were particularly affected by Covid, and the organisations that supported them. In the March 2020 Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer awarded £10 million to the Veterans’ Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund. Of this £10 million award, £3 million of this funding was to be an emergency funding programme available immediately, focusing on alleviating suffering and loneliness for isolated veterans caused by restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Veterans Should Not Be Forgotten programme awarded 120 grants to organisations across the UK, totalling £2,394,698.

This programme evaluation explores the impact of the Veterans Should Not Be Forgotten programme on vulnerable veterans with reduced social contact. Read the report here

Get to know the Knowledge Network: the Trust’s new data repository

The Knowledge Network is your new place to access learning and best practice from the grant making of the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust!

Our online data repository features everything from the latest research and reports, case studies and e-learning, to curated content collections such as the Map of Need. All available via the Trust’s website. Click below to discover…

Have you downloaded the AFCT Project Finder yet?

Available for FREE from both the Apple and Google Play stores, it’s the new way to find and access Trust funded projects in your local areas.

Now featuring over 200 live projects, we’re encouraging the Armed Forces community to downoad the app today and get involved with some great activities!

Why not share news of the app within your networks and let’s get the AFCT Project Finder at the fingertips of the Forces community…