Hadley Trust

The Hadley Trust, established in 1997, is a selective UK grant-making charity dedicated to creating opportunities for disadvantaged people—particularly children, young people, the elderly, and those with disabilities—to improve their lives through direct financial aid and research into hardship's root causes. Rooted in values of opportunity, fairness, and systemic change, it prioritizes long-term partnerships with a small group of organizations for enduring impact, blending evidence-based policy reform with frontline services. Its distinctive relational, hands-on approach favors deep collaborations over broad funding, exemplified by its major partnership with the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford on the Hadley Programme, including the Bright Spots initiative to enhance well-being for children in care.

The Trust funds criminal justice reform and rehabilitation, young people’s development and services, and children’s social care research—focusing on looked-after children, foster care, kinship care, and adoption. It also supports poverty reduction, community welfare, disability services, and selective research or overseas projects aligned with its mission, targeting small to medium-sized UK-registered charities operating primarily in England and Wales, with incomes typically under £1 million for maximum impact.

Grants range from £30,000 to £60,000 (averaging £45,000), covering projects, core costs, research, and multi-year partnerships; no capital-only or emergency grants. Applications are strictly invite-only via direct trustee contact—no unsolicited submissions, public forms, or deadlines—with ad hoc decision-making tied to relationship-building. It stands out for its narrow, deep funding model, rejection of short-term or unaligned work, absence of a public website, and emphasis on policy-service intersections for transformative change.