Charities

The National Federation of Women's Institutes plays a unique role in providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part in a variety of activities and to campaign on important issues. The WI celebrates its centenary in 2015 and currently has over 210,000 members in and around 6,600 WI's.

The National Film and Television School aims to train and educate the best creative talent to the highest professional standards for tomorrow's screen industries. Many of the most successful and internationally acclaimed feature films include our graduates such as Nick Park, creator of Wallace and Gromit; Roger Deakin, director of photography of No Country for Old Men and Dario Marianelli, composer for Atonement. Training these talented individuals would not be possible without private support.

The National Foundation for Retired Service Animals is a UK registered charity that supports the owners of retired dogs and horses from the Police; Fire & Rescue; Prison; Border Force; National Crime Agency; and NHS services by offering financial assistance with vet and medical costs. When an animal retires all public funding stops, and the animals become the legal property of either their handler, or a new and loving home. Because of their training and age, meaningful insurance is almost impossible to find and, as the years advance, inevitable vets fees occur and the owner has to pay for these in full. Some veterinary expenses can mount up, and the NFRSA is proud to be there for these extraordinary animals and their families, by providing financial grants to help cover the costs of all procedures and medications. Our motto is ‘Protecting Our Protectors’ - we passionately feel the dogs and horses of our services have kept the public safe in ways we could never possibly imagine, and it is our duty to offer the same peace of mind to their owners in their retired service animal’s golden years. The financial relief we give owners is invaluable, not just from the perspective of helping cover the costs and alleviating financial hardship, but also improving the mental health of the owners, by offering advice, compassion, reassurance, and emotional support when their beloved service partners fall ill. The charity is largely run by volunteers to ensure overhead costs are low. Our service is swift and efficient, and we are proud to note that since May 2022, when we launched, to July 2024 we have awarded over £80,000.

The National Garden Scheme gives visitors unique access to over 3,300 exceptional private gardens in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, and raises impressive amounts of money for some of the UK's best-loved nursing and health charities through admissions, teas and cake. Thanks to the generosity of garden owners, volunteers and visitors we have donated more than £74 million to our beneficiary charities, and in 2024 made donations of over £3.5 million. Founded in 1927 to support district nurses, we are now the most significant charitable funder of nursing in the UK and our beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK, Parkinson’ UK, Carers Trust and The Queen’s Institute for Community Nursing. The National Garden Scheme doesn’t just open beautiful gardens for charity – we are passionate about the physical and mental health benefits of gardens too. We fund Community Gardens and projects that promote gardens and gardening as therapy, and in 2017, we launched our annual Gardens and Health Week to raise awareness of the topic in May each year. Our funding also supports the training of gardeners and offers respite to horticultural workers who have fallen on difficult times.

The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (NGVFA) was established as a registered charity in March 1999. After returning from Gulf War 1 (90-91), service personnel developed illnesses and could not understand why. Many told their stories in local and national newspapers, and began to realise how wide-spread and common the problems were amongst Gulf Veterans. Responding to this need the NGVFA was established and set up to run from its base in Kingston Upon Hull. Over subsequent years, as further desert conflicts took place the availability and scope of the charities' services expanded to cover Veterans of Gulf 2 (Iraq 03-09) and Afghanistan (01-14). A Board of Trustees, which includes Veterans, help ensure that Veterans of desert conflicts and their families, partners and carers are at the heart of all we do. Day to day management and administration is undertaken by a small team of staff and a small number of dedicated volunteers. Thousands of service personnel were deployed in both the Gulf Conflicts with many more in the current ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. Many returning home develop health or social problems, requiring support from the NGVFA.