THE VETERANS' FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1166953 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as VF · also registered in Scotland as SC046571 (OSCR)

The Veterans' Foundation raises funds and then provides grants to British armed forces charities, and associated charitable activities, who are actively helping veterans, and their dependants, who are in need.

Objects

TO ASSIST PEOPLE WHO ARE SERVING OR WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES, INCLUDING UK MERCHANT SEAFARING VETERANS, AND THEIR DEPENDANTS, BY ADVANCING ANY LAWFUL CHARITABLE PURPOSE AT THE DISCRETION OF THE TRUSTEES AND IN PARTICULAR, BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY, TO MAKE GRANTS TO CHARITIES WHO ASSIST SERVING AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES, AND THEIR DEPENDANTS, WHO ARE IN NEED.

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Accommodation/housing · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: City of Edinburgh, Scotland (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported an in-year deficit of £507k, driven by a significant increase in net grant awards to £8.8m. Despite the deficit, the charity holds unrestricted reserves of £1,325k and cash at bank of £6,886k, with the trustees confirming the appropriateness of the going concern basis of accounting.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Saffery LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Employees paid over £60,000: 0 (FY2024) → 1 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Veterans’ Foundation® opens Adaptive Sports Grants applications through Invictus Games Birmingham 2027 Partnership - Cobseo cobseo.org.uk · 03/11/2026
• Veterans’ Foundation marks decade with £40.9 million awarded and new national pledge pathfinderinternational.co.uk · 12/10/2026
• Veterans’ Foundation and Invictus Games Birmingham 2027 launch Access Unconquered to widen access to adaptive sport - Cobseo cobseo.org.uk · 07/10/2026
• Veterans’ Foundation launches Britain’s biggest thank you to veterans in Edinburgh – The NEN - The NEN nen.press · 01/10/2026
• Veterans’ Foundation grant helps music transform the lives of veterans in Hereford living with dementia cobseo.org.uk · 28/07/2026
• HRH The Princess Royal Attends Veterans’ Foundation 10th anniversary celebration london-post.co.uk · 09/07/2026
• How Veterans’ Foundation is building sustainable fundraising civilsociety.co.uk · 08/07/2026
• The Princess Royal attends Veterans’ Foundation 10th anniversary celebration – The NEN nen.press · 08/07/2026

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 10099309

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Jane Gurney — Chief Executive Officer (source)
• Stella Atherstone — Chief Operating Officer (source)
• Major General (Ret) David Shaw CBE — Founder (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• City Brickwork — “City Brickwork City Brickwork deliver large scale, complex bricklaying projects across London and the South East.” (source page)
• Defence Infrastructure Organisation — “Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) The DIO is the estate expert for defence, supporting the armed forces to enable military capabilit…” (source page)
• Amey — “Amey Amey is a strategic partner to UK Government, delivering engineering, operations, and decarbonisation solutions. Through its Defence co…” (source page)
• Antac — “Antac Antac deliver a range of support services including repairs and maintenance for Service Family Accommodation and proudly support vario…” (source page)
• Apteriors — “Apteriors Apteriors are a multidisciplinary interior design studio who have worked consistently on MoD projects.” (source page)
• Arcadis — “Arcadis Arcadis delivers sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions across 30 countries globally.” (source page)
• Aspire Defence — “Aspire Defence Aspire Defence deliver new and improved accommodation for Armed Forces personnel as well as facilities management services ac…” (source page)
• Balfour Beatty — “Balfour Beatty Engineering giants, Balfour Beatty, have delivered numerous Defence projects since WWII and have held the MoD's Employer Reco…” (source page)
• CLC Group — “CLC Group CLC Group delivers comprehensive refurbishment and maintenance services nationwide, offering local expertise across 13 branches.” (source page)
• Complete Roofing Systems — “Complete Roofing Systems Complete Roofing Systems have been delivering high quality roofing projects for commercial, industrial and public b…” (source page)
• DLH Lifting Services — “DLH Lifting Services DLH Lifting Services provide transport, lifting, and modular installation solutions.” (source page)
• EvaBuild — “EvaBuild EvaBuild specialises in civil engineering and groundworks projects and are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant.” (source page)
• Gavin Jones Ltd — “Gavin Jones Ltd Royal Warrant holder, Gavin Jones Ltd provides landscape construction and maintenance services to commercial and private cli…” (source page)
• GB Electrical and Building Services — “GB Electrical and Building Services GB Electrical and Building Services provide electrical installation and repair works in domestic and com…” (source page)
• Glass & Framing Solutions — “Glass & Framing Solutions Glass & Framing Solutions specialise in the design, manufacturing, and installation of glass products and the fram…” (source page)

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• SPENCER, Catherine Victoria — director, appointed 10/03/2026on trustee list
• BANKS, James Edward — director, appointed 10/03/2026on trustee list
• LAING, Catriona Wendy Campbell — director, appointed 10/03/2026on trustee list
• LIU, Celia Pei Ling — director, appointed 10/03/2026on trustee list
• SMITH, Steven Paul — director, appointed 10/03/2026on trustee list
• ANDERSON, Andrew Mark Bull — director, appointed 12/06/2023on trustee list
• PEDDER, Margaret Anne — director, appointed 12/06/2023on trustee list
• CARTWRIGHT, Guy Gibson — director, appointed 17/04/2023on trustee list
• WILSON, Andrew Vernon — secretary, appointed 03/09/2025

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/06/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.9 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (97% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 48.2% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (23/10/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Andrew Mark Bull Anderson
• Catherine Victoria Spencer
• Catriona Wendy Campbell Laing
• Celia Pei Ling Liu
• Guy Gibson Cartwright
• James Edward Banks
• Margaret Anne Pedder · trustee of 2 other charities
• Steven Paul Smith · trustee of 1 other charity

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with VETERANS OF WAR.

• VETERANS OF WAR income £10k
• VETERANS AID income £2.2m
• CARE FOR VETERANS income £5.9m
• Army Benevolent Fund income £13.7m
• VETERANS ASSOCIATION income £986k
• THE VETERANS CHARITY income £397k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.