The Royal Naval Benevolent Trust (RNBT) has partnered with Lightning Reach in January 2023 to accept applications for financial support available to individuals of up to £750 through the Lightning Reach Portal.
Lighting Reach is a free online portal that connects financial support from various sources to the people that need it, quickly and securely. Once someone completes a profile, they can see all available support they are eligible for in one place, get updated when more support is added, and apply for multiple sources of support directly through the portal.
The financial support available to apply for through the portal from the RNBT is available to all serving or ex-serving Royal Naval ratings or Royal Marines of other ranks (including Reservists), including their dependents, during times of need or crisis. This can include help paying for food costs, utility bills, rent, home repairs and disability adaptations, mobility aids, respite breaks, employment-related training courses and more.
Last year, the RNBT gave grants worth £1.4m overall to 2,584 individuals facing financial hardship. The RNBT also runs its own 55 bed care home Pembroke House in Gillingham, Kent, which specifically cares for the needs of RN/RM Veterans, and a six-unit alms-house in Hornchurch, Essex. They were also able to assist 759 people last year through their Regular Charitable Payments, and can also assist people with non-financial and holistic support, such as counselling.
“The RNBT is currently celebrating its centenary year and part of the focus has been awareness of who we are and what we do. After discussions with other Service charities who had already taken the step, RNBT decided to join Lightning Reach as an additional means of reaching out to our naval family.”
“We understand that there are many of our beneficiaries out there who may not know how to engage with us or have just disconnected over a period of time. Lightning Reach is the perfect opportunity for those who require assistance, not only in the current cost of living crisis, but in the future. We have had a pretty seamless and speedy on-boarding process with the Lightning Reach team who have been supportive throughout and continue to respond to little tweaks to meet the Trust’s own requirements.” – Sam Allardyce, Grant Administrator at the Royal Naval Benevolent Trust
“We’re delighted to have launched the RNBT on the Lightning Reach Portal earlier this year. The RNBT provides invaluable support to the Royal Naval and Royal Marines communities during times of crisis, and whose support is vital during the current cost of living crisis. We hope we can help the RNBT to reach more people eligible for their support who may not have known about them or approached them before. We also aim to streamline the process of applying for financial support both for their service users and for the charity so they can get support to those most in need quickly and efficiently.” – Ren Hooi, Founder of Lightning Reach.
Lightning Reach has also been working with other military charities, including the Royal British Legion (RBL) and RAF Benevolent Fund, to enable individuals to apply for crisis support available from these charities through the Lightning Reach Portal. With over 10,000 individuals reporting to have worked in the military registered on the portal, over £2m in grants has been facilitated over just the last few months through the portal to serving personnel, veterans and their dependents across the military sector.
For more information about support offered by the RMBT via Lightning Reach visit: www.rnbt.org.uk/how-we-help/wide-ranging-financial-help/how-to-apply/
For more information about the Lightning Reach Portal visit: www.lightningreach.org
