Executive Summary

Executive summary

In advance of the formal publication of our Consolidated Annual Report & Accounts 2019/20 (delayed by the practicalities of conducting a full audit under current circumstances), this short report seeks to:

outline our FY19-20 performance; and provide some insight into how we are currently responding to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our FY19-20 financial performance was relatively successful, despite a fundraising environment that was already difficult pre-COVID. An income of £14.8m was generated from a wide range of sources and we were again able to provide substantial and global support to the Army family. Charitable expenditure was £12.2m, with which we were able to support over 70,000 people in 62 countries worldwide. This was achieved via our individual grants programme and by providing essential funding for 89 other charities and organisations to enable them to deliver specialist services to the Army family. We take very seriously our role as one of the biggest providers of grants to other charities and organisations in the military charity sector.

Turning to our COVID-19 response, we continue to operate on a ‘business as usual’ basis (and have done so throughout the crisis), making substantial grants in support of the Army family and having moved seamlessly to effective remote working. Our board had already foreseen not only a more challenging period for Armed Forces charities but also a potential end to the then-current economic cycle and adjusted our liquidity accordingly. Since the onset of COVID-19 we have further drawn down on our reserves, as well as taking advantage of government support schemes, to ensure we can continue to operate effectively for the foreseeable future. That said, we need to ensure that the charity can continue to provide support to those in need over the long term, so we have a very close eye on our free reserves and shall rebalance our operations accordingly. Whilst clearly we collectively face a challenging future, we also regard the present circumstances as a period of opportunity to help drive change across our sector.

We would like to think that our posture has been true to type: a safe and trusted pair of hands that can be relied upon whatever the storm.