HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust

The HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust is an independent grant-making charity founded in 1965 with a mission to advance charitable purposes worldwide, placing particular emphasis on environmental stewardship and wildlife conservation. Core values of flexibility, discretion, and targeted impact drive its philosophy, prioritizing tangible outcomes through support for small organizations delivering conservation and protection initiatives. Trustees believe enduring environmental change arises from responsive funding of grassroots efforts in habitat preservation, species safeguarding, and ecosystem resilience, fostering long-term stewardship over short-term fixes.

The Trust prioritizes wildlife conservation projects protecting endangered species, pollinators like bumblebees, and biodiversity hotspots through habitat restoration, rewilding, and anti-poaching efforts; environmental protection initiatives tackling pollution, deforestation, and climate resilience via tree planting, wetland preservation, and sustainable land management; general charitable activities strengthening community-led conservation including volunteer stewardship programs, wildlife monitoring, and educational outreach on ecological balance; heritage site maintenance preserving historic churches and rural estates as cultural and natural landmarks, blending built and natural heritage conservation. It supports small environmental organizations delivering field-based interventions such as invasive species control, bird and mammal protection, river and coastal ecosystem rehabilitation, and community wildlife gardens promoting urban green corridors. Funded activities emphasize preventative conservation, evidence-based habitat management, and collaborative partnerships yielding measurable biodiversity gains and species recovery.

Exclusions include grants to individuals and repeat funding to the same organizations within short periods, focusing instead on diverse small charities avoiding dependency. Distinctive priorities favor grassroots wildlife groups, rural conservation in Scotland's landscapes, and organizations with proven environmental ethos, differentiating through broad discretion channeled into high-impact wildlife and heritage stewardship rather than large-scale or generic environmental campaigns, with a niche commitment to tangible, site-specific ecological restoration.