Armed Forces Third Sector Resilience Fund

The Armed Forces Third Sector Resilience Fund is now closed to applications.

The Armed Forces Third Sector Resilience Fund has been established to support the sustainability of third sector Armed Forces Community organisations whose operations and income have been negatively affected by COVID-19. The fund will offer grants towards core operating and running costs until the end of March 2022.

The fund is open to third sector organisations whose primary charitable purpose is to support the Armed Forces Community, as well as organisations for whom the Armed Forces Community comprise a significant portion of their beneficiaries.

The maximum grant amount that an organisation can apply for will be determined by the number of Armed Forces Community beneficiaries that are supported. Further details about this are included in the eligibility criteria below.

The fund will open for applications on Friday 4th June. The closing date for applications will be 12 noon on Friday 16th July. All applications are to be completed online using the link to the application form which will appear at the bottom of this page on 4th June.

Before starting an application it is extremely important that you read the eligibility criteria and exclusions. 

Eligibility Criteria

The following eligibility criteria apply to all applicants:

    • Be based in Scotland and operate primarily in Scotland. If you are a UK-wide organisation with operations and beneficiaries in Scotland, you may be eligible to apply, however, your request should focus on the sustainability activity in Scotland. The amount you apply for should be based on the number of beneficiaries you support in Scotland.
    • Be used by the Armed Forces Community. Applicant organisations must be able to evidence that they are currently used by people from Armed Forces communities and that those communities would suffer detriment if those services were not available. The Fund’s priority is to help ensure that valued services can be supported in the short term; giving Armed Forces charities time to re-establish and regrow their fundraising activities. Providing funding in this way is designed to help reduce the risk of loss of valued services which may be expensive or difficult to re-establish.
    • Have been in operation and making an impact prior to COVID-19. Your organisation must have been established, operating and making a positive contribution for your community before 1stJanuary 2020.
    • Have Been in a stable financial position prior to COVID-19. By this we mean that, if the pandemic had not struck, your organisation could have carried on delivering activities as normal and there would have been no financial concerns or irregularities, i.e. in a position to pay debts, and not subject to insolvency proceedings.
    • Support existing services. This fund cannot support the establishment of new services. All activities supported under the programme must be already running and used by Armed Forces communities.
    • Have had significant disruption to operations due to COVID-19. For example, your operations and service delivery may have had to rapidly move online or stop altogether and now, as restrictions and guidelines change, you are able to work differently and/or explore adaptations.  Or simply that Government guidance means that you need to make adjustments to enable your organisation to remain open, operate and deliver your services safely.
    • Have been financially negatively impacted due to COVID-19. You will need to be able to explain how your income has changed as a result of COVID-19. For example, it could be drops in grants/donations/earned income, delayed delivery of contracts or Service Level Agreements.
    • Organisations that have already received funding from the Scottish Government, UK Government or similar to support their recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 are not excluded from applying but must provide justification for why this funding is needed over and above support funds already received.
    • Organisations that are holding in excess of 9 months unrestricted general reserves will be asked to explain their reserves policy. Any organisation with greater than 12 months unrestricted reserves is unlikely to be offered a grant.
    • Any national organisation that meets the eligibility criteria and which seeks to apply for its own funding and also to distribute funding to its member organisations/branches with less than 30 beneficiaries may send two applications. If you are an organisation to which this may apply, we ask you to contact Corra Foundation directly before completing your applications (contact: tom@corra.scot)

Exclusions

The following organisations are excluded from applying to this fund:

    • Third sector organisations with less than 30 Armed Forces Community beneficiaries are not eligible to apply directly to this fund. However, umbrella charities will be able to apply for a grant to onwardly distribute to their members with less than 30 beneficiaries.
    • Organisations whose primary purpose does not include the support of the Armed Forces Community, or who cannot evidence that the Armed Forces Community comprise a significant beneficiary group.

Funding Priorities

Applications which support smaller organisations who may need to cease functioning if they do not receive support, but which have a cohort of beneficiaries who would otherwise be “stranded” and for whom the services must be transferred to other providers or managed to cessation, will be looked upon favourably. The fund will also prioritise applications that demonstrate collaborative approaches and non-duplication working.

How much can you apply for?

There is no minimum amount of funding for which an organisation can apply.

The maximum that can be offered is scaled to the number of Armed Forces Community beneficiaries an organisation supports each year, as set out below:

30-50   =   maximum grant of £10k

50-100   =   maximum grant of £20K

100-150   =   maximum grant of £30K

150- 200   =   maximum grant of £40K

Over 200   =   maximum grant of £75K

In addition to the grant limits above, the fund cannot offer over a maximum of 50% of an organisation’s normal annual income (determined by your most recent pre-COVID impacted accounts).

Example 1: An organisation supporting 40 Armed Forces beneficiaries with an annual turnover of £15,000 may apply for a maximum grant of £7500 (50% of annual turnover).

Example 2: An organisation supporting 250 Armed Forces beneficiaries with an annual turnover of £300,000 may apply for up to £75,000 (maximum grant size).

Decision Making Process

All applications will be assessed by a Corra Foundation Grants Advisor. The assessment will involve a review of your completed application form against criteria and a review of your organisation’s governance and financial information. Where necessary the assessor may call an applicant to further understand aspects of your application and/or charitable activities. The assessment phase will happen between 16 July and 27 August.

Following initial assessment, the Grants Advisor will make a funding recommendation. All recommendations will be reviewed and finalised at a decision panel meeting. Scottish Government will make the final decision on the grants to be offered.

When will successful applicants receive their funding?

It is expected that grants will be released to successful applicants the week ending 3rd September. If you are successful in your application, you will be offered a one-off grant. This grant may be treated as unrestricted for accounting purposes. Grant funding must be spent by the end of March 2022.

Application Form

To commence an application please click here

Please refer to the Guidance Document below when completing the application form:

Armed Forces Application Guidance Notes

In addition to completing the online form, we will ask you to attach your most recent audited accounts and a copy/photo of a recent bank statement (showing sort code, account number, organisation name and dated within the last three months).

Enquiries

If you have any enquiries regarding your application, please direct them to: hello@corra.scot

This fund is being delivered by Corra Foundation on behalf of The Scottish Government.

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