The charity provides free information and advice as well as administering grant schemes for the repair and conservation of war memorials.
Sir Donald Thompson, then MP for Calderdale, Winston S Churchill, grandson of the wartime prime minister, and Ian Davidson, a former royal marine, were amongst those involved in founding the charity.
This was mainly due to both the UK and Scottish government's recognition of the trust's expertise which meant the additional centenary funding for war memorials was administered by the charity.
[14] The charity received a further £1 million to provide the staff and resources required to ensure that all works undertaken followed best conservation practice minimising the potential of damage to the historic fabric as people are often unaware of the potential problems that can be caused if materials such as stone and metal are treated incorrectly.
[16] Projects funded by the trust include: This website aims to create a greater understanding of the condition of war memorials across the UK.
[21] The site is user-driven, allowing contributors to create and update records with photographs, comments and condition reports.
[40] In November 2010, the trust launched a campaign to identify a War Memorials Officer (WMO) at each local authority in the UK.
[42] In 2019, the Learning Programme officially ended due to a lack of resources, though War Memorials Trust continues to maintain the 'We will always remember' website to promote its educational work.