Purpose of the Trust
The Ulysses Trust (UT) is a registered Charity that encourages and provides financial assistance for challenging expeditions and adventurous activities by the Volunteer Reserve (VR) & Cadet Forces of the UK.
Guiding Principles for Grants
The Trust Deeds state that the Objects of the Charity to be:
- promoting the education and life experiences of members of the Cadet Forces, particularly those from under-privileged backgrounds, in the interests of social welfare. To develop physical, mental and moral capabilities, as well as teamwork and leadership qualities so that their potential to become confident, resilient and successful members of society may be improved;
- furthering the retention and efficiency of the Reserve Forces and the education of their personnel;
- promoting interest and morale in the Reserve Forces and recruitment to them, by undertaking expeditions that have adventurous, scientific, or educational purposes.
By so doing, The Ulysses Trust seeks to enhance the Reserve and Cadet Forces’ contribution to community cohesion and society generally. It therefore places emphasis on inclusivity and is determined that opportunities it supports are available and affordable to all in believing such opportunities can have the most transformational impact on units and individuals from otherwise disadvantaged environments.
The Ulysses Trust is also keen to encourage expeditions or projects that add to social cohesion, embrace social action and/or community service at home or abroad, and is a pledged supporter of the #iwill campaign of the charity Step Up To Serve.
The Trust encourages involvement of Veterans in expeditions it supports, although it recognises that this will principally be through adult volunteers on cadet expeditions.
Eligibility
All Volunteer Reserve (including University Units) and Cadet Forces are eligible to apply for a grant to help with the financial cost of mounting an expedition. Expeditions must be sponsored by a Unit or HQ, but participants can be drawn from multiple units or other Services, and have JSATFA, ACEATFA or other appropriate authorisation.
The Ulysses Trust does not, as a rule, support competitive sports, package holidays (like downhill skiing or scuba diving), or expeditions whose principal objective is to fundraise for other charities. It will however consider exceptions where the challenge or adventurous component justifies this. What might be challenging and adventurous for some may not be considered so for others. Thus, for example, the Trust will only consider Cadet applications requesting support for Alpine Skiing, Diving trips and Sky Diving for under-privileged aspiring Cadets who may have never been away from home or done anything like this before. If in doubt, applicants are invited to discuss with the Trust’s Operations Director.
Normally, an expedition will be distinct from Adventurous Training activity on Annual Camps. However, in the case of Cadets, such activity on Annual Camps may be considered for support, if not eligible for support by public funds and accompanied by a convincing case.
The Trust does not support civilian expeditions, but it may support participants in civilian expeditions, particularly where it can be shown that an appropriate unit expedition is not readily available and that there will be long term benefit to the unit, provided their participation has unit or HQ sponsorship with appropriate service authorisation. Where service authorisation is inappropriate or impractical, this should be explained, with additional information to cover the issues of insurance and legal liabilities.
Grants
Grants made range from a few hundred pounds for small or less ambitious expeditions to £5000 or more for major expeditions or involving larger numbers. Occasionally, significantly larger sums are made to particularly ambitious expeditions, though it is essential to discuss these with the Trust’s Operations Director at the outset of planning, ideally a year ahead, before applying. He can be contacted at ops@ulyssestrust.onmicrosoft.com or kev46@hotmail.com to arrange a suitable time for a phone call discussion. Grants are normally paid in to applicants’ accounts around 2 months before expedition departure , but if cash is required earlier, they should advise of this in the application (or notify the Ops Dir/Hon Treasurer). The Trust endeavours to provide the greatest support to those with the greatest need. The object of Trust grants is to reduce participant contributions to manageable levels for all. Grants are therefore made to the expedition, for the Leader to deploy in a manner that ensures optimum inclusivity. In the case of Cadets, we would expect the Leader to distribute the monies to those cadets on FSMs, or other Pupil Premium datasets. The aim is to enable all to participate, and for some families £20 is an impossibly large personal contribution, whereas others can afford to pay a significantly larger contribution. The Leaders integrity is key, and knowledge of his/her cadets’ personal circumstances must be considered when deciding how the funds are fairly allocated.
NB – A grant can only be paid into a bank account which is quite clearly that (usually non-public) of a recognisable military unit, including a cadet force unit. In the case of a school Combined Cadet Force unit this may be one of the school’s main bank accounts controlled by the school’s financial staff or the OC of the school’s contingent.
We occasionally are asked to for the funds are to be paid into an individual’s personal bank account and this is not acceptable.
Making an application
Applications must be made through The Ulysses Trust Website. We have endeavoured to make the conditions and processes as simple and responsive as possible. Applicants should understand, however, that we are unable to meet all requests for our assistance, so we need sufficient information to ensure that our grants are distributed as effectively and fairly as possible and aligned to the Trust’s purpose and objectives.
Click here for Part 2 – Conditions of Grants