Armed forces charities: what every charity’s own report adds
The Directory of Social Change’s Sector Insight: Armed Forces Charities 2024 counts charities whose main purpose is the armed forces community. Its own introduction points past that definition:
“Undoubtedly, members of the armed forces community seek additional support elsewhere – for instance, from the wider charity sector, community interest companies and local authorities.”
Directory of Social Change, Sector Insight: Armed Forces Charities 2024, PDF page 24
“Indeed, many mainstream charities now operate veteran-specific programmes, with notable examples including Alabare´, Amicus Trust, Canine Partners, the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Venture Trust.”
Directory of Social Change, Sector Insight: Armed Forces Charities 2024, PDF page 25
These pages count that wider sector in England, from each charity’s own latest filed report and annual return, and set it beside DSC’s figures. Two definitions, side by side and never merged; neither is wrong.
588charities say they work with veterans or the armed forces community
In their own latest filed report: England, income over £25,000, a year ending in 2024 or later.
470of them do not record the register’s armed forces purpose
Mainstream charities: the wider sector DSC’s introduction describes.
30.1%of their income comes from government
Against 11.4% for charities recording the armed forces purpose, and 17.0% for every charity.
DSC’s figures beside every charity’s own return
| Measure | Sector Insight (DSC) | Every English charity’s own return and report |
|---|---|---|
| Charities counted | 1,733 in the UK, 1,412 of them registered in England and Wales: charities whose main purpose is the armed forces community, any size, July 2023, cadets excluded | 523 in England over £25,000 record the register’s armed forces purpose; 588 say in their own latest report that they work with veterans or the armed forces community, 470 of them outside that purpose |
| Income | £1.03 billion combined (UK, any size) | £849.8m for the 523; £2.51bn for the 588, which include large mainstream charities |
| Reserves | median 8.2 months of total spending (the 136 charities with the data) | median 8.3 months (the 181 of the 523 whose return gives both); 4.3 months for the 588 |
| The mainstream charities DSC names | Alabaré, Amicus Trust, Canine Partners, the Royal Foundation and Venture Trust: outside DSC’s definition by design | Alabaré, Amicus Trust and Canine Partners are among the 470. The Royal Foundation (now of the Prince and Princess of Wales) and Venture Trust were read too, and our reading did not find the line in their latest reports, which is not the same as the reports saying nothing |
“As shown in figure 3.8, the (median) average armed forces charity could cover up to 8.2 months of expenditure with its reserves (the corresponding number was 4.8 months for cash assets within those reserves; see figure 3.9).”
Directory of Social Change, Sector Insight: Armed Forces Charities 2024, PDF page 121
The two definitions answer different questions: DSC’s counts the charities for the armed forces community across the UK; these pages count, in England, the charities that say in their own words that they serve it, and the ones that record the register’s armed forces purpose. Where they measure the same thing (reserves as months of spending, both medians) they come out close, on different bases and dates.
Explore
- The charities that also serve the armed forces community: what they do, who they serve, how large they are and where.
- Who pays: their funding beside the rest of the sector, and public money for the armed forces community in open data, year by year and by region.
Sources
Built from public information: the Charity Commission for England and Wales’s register of charities and annual returns, and charities’ own filed reports; the Cabinet Office’s government grants records (360Giving, 2020-21 to 2023-24) and Government Grants Register 2024-25; the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s grants data published to 360Giving; ONS Census 2021. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The Directory of Social Change’s figures are quoted from its report, with the page each is on.