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Grants to other organisations

Sitting at the heart of the RAF Family we are pleased to be able to provide financial support to external organisations delivering demonstrable positive change and tangible assistance to members of the RAF Family.

An office

We also run a separate grant funding programme to support activities and capital projects for serving RAF personnel and their family members on RAF Stations/Units. Find out about our RAF Station Grants Programme.

Our External Grants programme supports the costs of activities and services that deliver at least one of our nine Welfare Outcomes. These Welfare Outcomes demonstrate the changes required to deliver the impact we hope, collectively, our funding will have to enable all within the RAF Family to live with dignity, purpose and peace of mind. We require grantees to provide Outcome Reports (Word 57KB) against these outcomes at the end of their funding period.

COVID-19 UPDATE: In light of a predicted drop in income, the Board of Trustees has decided that the External Grants programme is an area of discretionary spending and so could be subject to suspension at short notice. Please note we have also added additional questions to our applications so that we may better understand how COVID-19 has affected your organisation and its activities.

Application Process

Our External Grants programme is split into the following funding streams.

  • Small Grants stream: funding of up to £5000 is available for projects and activities that can demonstrate that they deliver at least one of the welfare outcomes set out in our Impact Framework. Please download our Small Grants application form (Word 628 KB).
  • Large Grants stream: funding of between £5000 - £25,000 is available for projects and activities that can demonstrate that they deliver/have previously delivered measurable links to more than one of the welfare outcomes set out in our Impact Framework. Please download our Large Grants application form (Word 634 KB).

The Small Grants stream is a rolling programme and decisions on applications will usually be made within 2-4 weeks of receipt.

The Large Grants funding stream is managed by the Grants Committee and sits quarterly in February, May, August and November. The cut-off date for each quarter is three weeks prior to the first working day of February, May, August and November. Any applications received after this point will be considered at the following committee. In periods of high demand, we reserve the right to delay any application to the subsequent committee.

Please email completed applications, along with a copy of your most recent annual accounts to externalgrants@rafbf.org.uk. Please ensure you have read our Funding Guidelines (Word 462 KB) before completing the application form.