02 — Service design · Web platform — 2025
Veteran Force
A grant funding service for veteran-led community resilience.
Core purpose
To shorten the distance between a veteran-led community group and the small, fast funding it needs to do its work — and to translate community impact into language funders recognise.
01 — The problem
Veteran-led groups often build the social fabric of UK communities but struggle to access funding without the overhead of a large charity. The route to a small, fast grant needed to be one page, not ten.
02 — The approach
I structured a single trust-led journey — what the grant funds, who can apply, how to apply, what counts as social value — paired with a calculator that translates community work into funder language.
03 — The outcome
A platform that turns a complex grants process into a few honest steps, and gives veterans the vocabulary funders are listening for.
Core features
What it actually does.
F.01
One-page application
A single, plainly-written grant flow that respects the applicant's time — no portal logins, no jargon, no gatekeeping.
F.02
Social value calculator
Translates volunteer hours, beneficiaries reached and outputs delivered into the social value figures funders ask for.
F.03
Ambassadors directory
Veteran-led organisations named and visible, building credibility for the network as a whole.
F.04
Resilience framing
Content architecture built around 'local · regional · national' so applicants self-locate without forms.
How it was built
Under the bonnet.
- Stack
- React, Tailwind, accessible form primitives. Built mobile-first because most applicants apply from a phone.
- Tone
- Plain English throughout. Every page rewritten to remove charity-sector jargon.
- Trust signals
- TheVeteran.UK family marker, ambassador list and concrete examples on every grant card.
- Data shape
- Application schema designed to plug into a back-office without re-keying — exports straight to grant assessors.
“A grant funding service for veteran-led community resilience.”
Visit the live site ↗Next plate — 03