Hawks Charitable Trust

The Hawks Charitable Trust advances education at the University of Cambridge through merit-based support for sporting excellence, established by Hawks' Club members to dismantle financial barriers enabling full participation in high-performance university sports. Core values emphasize equitable access, outstanding athletic achievement, and need alleviation across all genders and backgrounds, with a discretionary trustee-led philosophy prioritizing demonstrable merit, financial means-testing, and endorsements from college tutors or club leaders. They believe transformative impact arises from empowering talented student athletes to compete at varsity, national, and international levels, fostering holistic collegiate engagement and lifelong sporting development through targeted bursaries and club enhancements.

They fund individual scholarships and bursaries enabling current undergraduate and graduate Cambridge students—especially those pursuing Blues or Half-Blues status—to overcome costs of training, specialist equipment, competition travel, subsistence, and high-performance preparation in sports including rowing, rugby, hockey, football, cricket, and athletics. Support extends to small-scale grants for Cambridge sports clubs and teams facilitating varsity matches, national championships, and international representation, alongside upkeep and development of Hawks' Club and Ospreys' clubhouses directly benefiting student athletes. Interventions address financial exclusion from elite athletic opportunities, promoting participation in competitive sports, skill-building training, team-based activities, and facility access that enhance physical development, resilience, peer support, and university community cohesion for financially needy student athletes across all colleges and study years.

They exclude support for non-Cambridge students, those without financial need or sporting merit, non-university sports, or activities not benefiting current student athletes, with no positive action by gender or sport. Distinctive as the principal dedicated funder of Cambridge Blues-level sport, they prioritize elite student athletes facing acute barriers to high-performance participation, valuing transparent merit assessment, collegiate endorsements, and indirect benefits via club infrastructure for this niche university athletic community, ensuring equitable pathways to sporting success and educational enrichment.