5 ways to get involved with the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

Want to support us? Here are five exciting ways you can help the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation and our work.

How to support the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

Get involved in our projects

For the more practically minded, we run various volunteer projects that help support us and spread our message.

Eyes On, Hands On is our flagship volunteer project. It’s a chance for people to explore their local history while helping us maintain our cemeteries and memorials. We’ve been running it since 2019 and have recruited over 1,800 volunteers.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission looks after over 160,000 headstones in the UK alone. With the input of local volunteers, we’ve been able to inspect 92,000 in a short time and make almost 14,000 cleanings or restorations.

Alternatively, why not think about joining our Guest Speaker and Tour Guides programme?

Generously Sponsored by the MacRobert Trust, this programme allows volunteers the opportunity to blend their enthusiasm for public engagement with history. Through them, and their visits to schools, colleges, universities, and many other diverse community groups, we can share more of the stories of those we commemorate.

If you’re outgoing, social, and have a passion for public speaking and historical events, this role may suit you.

Make a donation

Of course, the quickest and most direct way to show your support would be to donate directly to us.

If you are feeling generous, you’ll find numerous donation options available to you. These include:

• By cheque
• By bank transfer
• By text

You may also wish to have a look at the AmazonSmile scheme. AmazonSmile is a special web portal and app that supports us through your purchases. Simply log in and select the CWGF as your charity. Each time you make an eligible purchase, Amazon then donates 0.5% of the price directly to us.

You may also wish to arrange to leave us a legacy in your will. Leaving us a gift of this type is hugely appreciated and any amount received is all put back into our charity and our various projects.

Become a CWGF Guide

This one is more aimed at younger readers.

Part of our remit is to inspire and enthral the next generation of history lovers. The Guide programme lets us achieve this by making young people our stars.

Based at either the legendary Thiepval Memorial or the CWGC Ieper Visitor Centre, our Guides become our eyes and ears on the ground, leading guided tours, and sharing their growing history knowledge with the public.

We believe young people are the future of commemoration and remembrance at the Foundation. Our Guides become shining remembrance beacons, helping share stories of those we commemorate with the public and their peers.

After a break for COVID-19, the Guides programme is up and running again. While we are fully booked for 2022, more opportunities for university-age students and history enthusiasts to become CWGF Guides will be available soon.

Take part in our events

Each year, the Foundation puts on a variety of events you can visit or take part in. As well as being fundraising opportunities for us, these act as brilliant ways we can come together as a community to remember the sacrifice of those we commemorate.

Highlights from this year include the Walking our War Graves and In the Footsteps of Our Forces virtual walking challenges. During these, participants were encouraged to strap on their walking boots and cover specific distances to raise money to support us and associated charities.

Our amazing team also organises ticketed events to fundraise, but to also welcome our friends, collaborators, members, and supporters together for some joint remembrance and thanksgiving.

Our jubilant Eventing at Brookwood is the perfect example. We welcomed nearly 400 families, history lovers, and CWGF supporters of all sorts to Brookwood Military Cemetery. At Brookwood, we showcased inspirational music from local and national acts, as well as military vehicles, stalls to explore, and some tasty refreshments.

We are planning on more, so please stay tuned for more updates – and don’t forget to come along!

You may also find the CWGF stand at an event like Chalke Valley History Festival or Scarborough Armed Forces Day. If you’re at a similar event and see our famous yellow colours amid the stands, please do come and say hi! We’d love to have a chat and fill you in on who we are and what we do.

Become a member

Probably the quickest, easiest way to support us is the become a Commonwealth War Graves Foundation member.

Membership costs just £36 a year or £3 a month. For that, you’re continually supporting our efforts to preserve the memories of the men and women who fell during the world wars. Your membership also comes with extras like:

• Early access to CWGF events
• Our yearly impact report detailing our projects and achievements so you can see how your support helps us achieve our goals
• Subscription to our quarterly Foundation Chronicle magazine with features on our work and more world war history
• Our regular newsletter, which keeps you up to date with the latest news and event details
• Access to our Members Area where we’ll be sharing exclusive content soon

Thank you for supporting the CWGF

Whichever way you choose to support our work here at the Foundation, we’d like to say a big thank you to all our current, new, and old members.

We have lots planned. The future is looking bright. Keep visiting back to the Foundation to see what we have in store in the future.