Expression of Interest for VPPP Funding

Dear Applicant,

As part of the VPPP Programme funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (AFCFT) for the East of England Region, we are inviting organisations to express their interest in submitting innovative project proposals aimed at supporting veterans and their families. This initial phase seeks to gather ideas for unique and impactful projects that can be implemented within a maximum budget of £50,000. We will accept multiple applications from the same organisation if you have different projects for us to consider.

We are in the final stages of a consultation to understand the needs of veterans and their families and to identify gaps in their support. We are also assessing existing projects being delivered in the region by charities and statutory bodies.

To ensure timely preparation for the next steps, we need to collect expressions of interest before our consultation has fully completed. This will allow us to quickly match your proposals to the identified needs and gaps once the consultation closes at the end of July. Following this, we will move to the second phase of a full tender for those projects that align with the identified needs. A tendering process involving external, independent parties will be conducted to select the most suitable projects.

We encourage proposals that are innovative and can deliver significant benefits to veterans and their families, focusing on improving help-seeking behaviour, holistic support, reducing stigma around mental health, and providing enhanced support for carers and families.

Download a Word version of the questions to prepare your application

All applications must be submitted online.

Criteria for submissions

Your organisation must have at least 3 unrelated individuals on its governing body. You will be required to submit details of your organisation's policies and procedures that relate to this project.

You must be a Charity, CIC, Ltd Company or Statutory body. Governance checks will be carried out before any funding is agreed.

You will not be receiving funding for the same project or being a duplicate of any other funded project from any other parties.

Must be able to identify and report on the beneficiaries using the AFCFT Impact Tool. Project outcomes need to be measurable.

Must only use this funding for Veterans and/or their families and no more than £50,000.

The start and end date must be between October 2024 and June 2026 but a small extension will be considered to transition to post funding to a sustainable project.

You must have the skills, experience and capacity to deliver this or let us know who you will be working with.

Projects will need to be sustainable at the end of funding.

This is not an exhaustive list, further details will be given during the tendering process.

Submission Instructions

Please complete the form and submit it by 12 noon 31 July 2024. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please note that due to the expected high demand, we will not be able to respond to each question individually, but should any be relevant to everyone we will send out an update to everyone. Final tendering and more details will be required during September and October 2024. During this phase, we will let you know if your expression of interest is being considered for the tender or not.

We appreciate your participation and look forward to reviewing your proposals.

We look forward to receiving your innovative ideas and thank you for your commitment to supporting our veterans and their families.

Regards,

Darren Hickie

The Bridge for Heroes

East of England VPPP Programme Manager