Logos and Branding
Go straight to Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust Branding Guide 2023
So, your organisation has been awarded funding from the Trust… but what now?
PROMOTING YOUR GRANT AWARD
If you are awarded funding from the Trust, then as part of your terms and conditions to grant, we require you to publicly acknowledge your award when talking about your funded project.
This could be:
- a press release
- an article on your website
- a social media post
- a promotional video or other digital resource
- prominent display of our logo, whenever you are producing items that talk about the grant you have received; or the project that you are working on using the grant you have been awarded
By publicly acknowledge, we mean that we expect your organisation to display our logo in a relevant place and clearly refer to the funding you’ve received from us. Failure to properly acknowledge the funding you’ve received means your organisation is in breach of the terms and conditions to grant that you have signed.
If you are unsure about how to talk about the funding you’ve been awarded, you can adapt our standard text to make things simple…
Example:
We/(org name) are/is delighted to have been awarded £XXX/funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s XXX programme for XXX.
A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO PROMOTION
We know from experience that you’ll likely be eager to shout about the support you’ve received. Here is our handy step-by-step guide to help you get on your way to great coverage…
- First, let’s get the official stuff done
- What’s the minimum we expect from our grant holders?
- How should we talk about the Trust and the funding we’ve received?
- Why promotion matters
- Using our logo
- Downloading our logo
- Using the Armed Forces Covenant logo
- What does promotion look like to your organisation?
- Opportunities with the Trust
Some examples of getting it right…
1. THE OFFICIAL STUFF
All organisations awarded a grant by the Trust will receive:
- an offer letter
- terms and conditions of grant
- information about payments.
You must accept your grant offer within a maximum of four weeks of receiving it – do check your letter for the exact date. This is really important, otherwise your grant offer will lapse.
Please also carefully read and follow the instructions about providing bank details and claiming your first grant payment. We’re unable to make any payments until we’ve received all of the above information.
We’ve put together a slideshow to help you get to grips with making your award official.
You can find more information on managing your grant award, here.
2. WHATS THE MINIMUM THAT WE EXPECT FROM OUR GRANT HOLDERS?
What do we need to do to meet the requirements of our award?
As a Trust grant holder, the minimum we expect you to do in terms of promotion of your award, and in line with the terms and conditions to grant you have signed, is to:
- display our logo in some form; and
- refer to the funding you’ve received from the Trust when talking about your project.
It is really important to note that failure to properly acknowledge the funding you’ve received means your organisation is in breach of the terms and conditions to grant that you have signed.
However, as well as meeting the minimum mandatory requirements of promotion, there is so much more you can do depending on what feels right for your organisation.
Physical items…
- Your organisation likely produces an Annual Report and Accounts document. As well as listing your grant in the accounts section in line with your terms and conditions to grant, you should also mention the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust as a funder on any other relevant pages in your Annual Report document and feature our logo where appropriate (such as on a funders acknowledgement or thank you page).
- Creating promotional items? Why not pop our logo on there? It is available in an EPS format, great for printing!
- Designing a publication such as a leaflet, report or postcard? Our logo can easily be added and shows readers that a funder is backing your work!
- Have a building, base or frequently used hub? Why not create a plaque to show the Trust has provided some funding for your activities?
Online…
- Got a website? A great place to start is to pop our logo in a relevant place on the site – perhaps if you have a funders page or support page?
- Using social media? A quick win is to tag us into your posts… where we can, we will like and share posts relating to the funding you’ve received, helping to spread your word a little more widely. Becoming a ‘liker’ or ‘follower’ of our social pages also means you’ll be kept up to date with the latest news and developments.
- A quick reminder of our social handles:
Twitter (@CovenantTrust)
Facebook (@CovenantTrust)
Instagram (armedforcescovfundtrust)
and on LinkedIn
Digital assets…
- If you’re a whizz with video production (and even if you’re a beginner!) don’t forget to add our logo to your video if it relates to your funded project. This means we can also share it for you where possible, and even show it to our own funders and Trustees to illustrate the great work their support is enabling.
- Creating graphics or images? Our logo is available in a number of formats so why not pop it on if you can? Find it in the section below.
3. HOW SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT THE TRUST AND THE FUNDING WE’VE RECEIVED?
How should we talk about the Trust and our funding?
We are the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust…we know our full name can be a bit of a mouthful!
However, we do ask that you always try to use our name in full, capitalising each word, when referring to the funding we’ve awarded your organisation.
We sometimes abbreviate our name to ‘the Trust’ or ‘AFCFT’. It’s ok for you to do this too, if you are referring to us more than once in the same piece of promotion, for instance in a press release or web article.
If you’re talking about your Trust award, try one of these standard options we’ve put together to save you some time…
- Funded by/With support from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s XXX programme.
- The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust has kindly awarded £XXX to [your organisation] under their XXX programme, for XXX.
The Armed Forces Covenant Vs The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust: what’s the difference?
4. WHY PROMOTION MATTERS…
Why do we need to promote our award?
Our mission as a funder is to support the Armed Forces Covenant by delivering funding programmes that create real change to Forces communities across the UK.
And your organisation is now a part of that mission!
The funding we’ve awarded you has come from a specific funding programme, with its own aims, themes and eligibility. Our programmes are often very oversubscribed and can be competitive, so it’s a great achievement that your application has been successful – we’re sure you want to share this news within your networks and beyond!
We too like to share this good news, and together, our experience of grant making makes a compelling story of the needs and challenges within the Forces community, and what is being done to meet those needs.
We understand it can be time consuming and challenging to apply for funding. And for organisations, such as yours, who are successful, the work doesn’t stop there. But being able to talk about the funding you’ve received, the work you are doing and the impact it will have or is already having, can be so valuable, both now and in the future, especially if you will be seeking further funding!
5. USING OUR LOGO
As of October 2023, the Trust has introduced a new logo for our grant holders to display.
This new logo acknowledges the fact that the money we award is public money.
It is important for all our grant holders to use this new logo going forward.
However, we understand there may be instances where use of the new logo is not appropriate. If you are a grant holder who has concerns about using the new logo, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss this with you.
FAQs:
My organisation is already displaying the Trust’s old logo, do we need to change it?
If you are using our old logo digitally and it is a simple process to update, then yes please. However, if this is a challenge or very time consuming then continuing to use our old logo is fine.
If you are using our old logo in print – for example on a vehicle, a sign or other printed items, we don’t require you to make any changes.
We’ve just been awarded a new grant by the Trust, can we just keep using the old logo?
No. For all new grants awarded from October 2023, we ask that our new logo be used. Where this poses an issue, please contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss.
When using our logo, be sure to leave a space around the whole logo that is the same height and width of the ‘O’ in the word ‘FORCES’.
Please don’t make our logo any smaller than 200×40 pixels (approximately 50mm). If this is a problem, get in touch at info@covenantfund.org.uk
Our logo is available in three colour options: full colour, black, and white. Be sure to choose the one that works best for you and place it on an appropriate background.
We ask you to please always try and use the full colour version of our logo where possible; however, where this isn’t appropriate, feel free to use the black or white alternative.
Other than resizing, please do not change our logo in any way.
6. DOWNLOAD THE TRUST’S LOGO
Our logo is available in three file types: JPEG, PNG and EPS. Simply click on your chosen logo below, then right click the image and choose ‘save image as…’
If you are adding our logo to a publication, you may wish to use an EPS file. Email us at info@covenantfund.org.uk
7. USING THE ARMED FORCES COVENANT LOGO – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
If you’ve received a grant award from the Trust, as well as displaying our Trust logo, you must also display the Armed Forces Covenant logo as part of your grant conditions.
You can download the logo you need from the MOD’s Brand Portal. Most projects prefer to use the version called AFC POS RBG in the PNG version.
Please note: you will need to create a free account to use the MOD’s Brand Portal.
Please note that the Armed Forces Covenant is separate to the Trust and has its own social media tags. Find them on the Covenant website at www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk
8. WHAT DOES PROMOTION LOOK LIKE TO YOUR ORGANISATION?
There are so many ways for organisations to promote what they are doing and talk about the funding support they are receiving. This might include*:
- your website or social media
- newsletters or targeted emails
- blogging or vlogging, videos and graphics
- articles and press releases.
*Links to third party content taken from https://knowhow.ncvo.org.uk/
Whether you are doing one or all of these, it’s great to include a nod to those who have provided support, such as your funders.
While we do ask that you publicly acknowledge the funding we’ve awarded in some way – we don’t expect you to go above and beyond the capabilities and usual promotional channels of your organisation.
9. OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE TRUST
Over time, the Trust has provided more ways for you to engage with us to promote your funded work.
- A quick win is to simply tag us into your relevant social media content and, where we can, we will like and share with our audience. See below for our social media handles.
- By placing our logo on your digital content such as graphics and videos, we can easily share through our own networks and with our Trustees (the people making award decisions!).
- Did you know we now have an external news section on our website? Send us your press release and a high-res image/logo and we’ll publish it where we can.
- We love to receive project updates, quotes and images from your funded project. We like to use these in our promotional content to show the positive impact funding can have – plus it gives your project an extra bit of coverage!
- Listing your project on the AFCT Project Finder is also a great opportunity for wider promotion as users can search for what’s taking place in their area; not to mention, we regularly promote the app and those listed.
Tag us on social media if you’re posting photos, videos or information about your Trust funded project!
SOME EXAMPLES OF PROMOTING YOUR AWARD…
We are pleased to see any and all efforts to include us when you talk about the funding you’ve received!
These are just a few examples of great promotion…
Adding our logo to an image
Tagging us into your social post
Adding our logo to your promotional film
If you have any queries regarding your grant please contact us at info@covenantfund.org.uk
Branding Guide 2023
The Trust has created a useful Branding Guide. This can be used by grant holders, stakeholders and other external contacts writing for, on behalf of or about the Trust. Simply click the image to download.