Hancocks Trust

The Hancocks Trust is a discreet, generalist grant-making charity registered in England and Wales (charity number 1140553), established in 2011 and governed by trustees James Carl Hancocks (Chair) and Antonia Rachel Hancocks. Operating as a traditional family or private trust, it pursues broad charitable purposes, with explicit priorities in advancing health or saving lives, and promoting human rights, religious or racial harmony, equality, and diversity. Its distinctive, opaque approach emphasizes trustee-led discretion without published strategies, annual reports, case studies, or impact data, focusing grants exclusively on organizations rather than individuals, and relying on personal networks rather than open calls.

The Trust supports elderly or older people, people with disabilities, and other UK charities or voluntary bodies through flexible, general-purpose grants that may cover core costs, projects, or other needs, though specifics remain undisclosed due to low transparency. There are no thematic programs or restrictions on grant types, marking it as broadly supportive without a narrow focus.

Eligible applicants must be UK-registered charities based in England and Wales, with no specified income thresholds, size limits, or religious restrictions—though its modest scale (£31,880 recent income, £3,700 expenditure) suits small organizations. It strictly does not accept unsolicited applications, operating a closed process with no forms, deadlines, funding rounds, or meeting schedules; funding decisions stem from trustee invitations via pre-existing relationships. Typical grants are small, likely in the low thousands of pounds or less per recipient. This invitation-only, low-profile model sets it apart from transparent, accessible funders, making it ideal only for those with direct trustee connections and unsuitable for proactive seekers.