ELLIOT DALLEN TRUST
What We Do
We organise events that will raise money for Elliot's charity. This is a small charity, which does not employ any staff, and so we typically organise just one or two events per year. Most recently, in January 2025, we held a fabulous Charity Jazz Night at the Spice of Life live music venue in Soho, London, where we raised several thousand pounds for the charity. In both January 2024 and January 2023 we held luxurious Charity Gala dinners at the five star Sofitel St James Hotel, which raised tens of thousands of pounds for the charity. You can see photos from these events in the Annual Charity Events section of the website. Our next large event will be an elegant Charity Gala Dinner, taking place in January 2026. Please do let us know if you would like to come!
In addition to holding fundraising events for the charity, we also really encourage people to raise money for the charity independently. Even better if you can do this whilst challenging yourself to do something that's outside of your comfort zone, that you wouldn't typically do. This was part of Elliot's wish; he wanted any legacy to encourage people to live full lives, to have adventures and to make the most of the time they have.
We understand that some people will prefer to give their time rather than money. For example, you may wish to volunteer at a tree planting event in memory of Elliot. The Elliot Dallen Trust has partnered with other organisations to plant trees across London. Here's a photo from our most recent outing:
Supporters of the Elliot Dallen Trust planting trees in London, during December 2023, in Elliot's memory.
If you aim to raise money or take charitable action in memory of Elliot then please do 'Make a Pledge' for the year ahead. Email us to let us know what you plan to do that year in memory of Elliot and we will post your pledge on our Pledge Wall.
Friends of Elliot on a 77 mile sponsored walk around the Isle of Wight, 2020, raising funds in his memory.
Where the Money Goes
A large number of excellent charities already exist and we do not want to duplicate what they already provide and offer. As such, our charity’s model is to raise funds in memory of Elliot, and to donate the funds raised to a selection of pre-existing charities that align with Elliot’s core values. We will continue to keep this website updated with the carefully selected charities that receive donations from the Elliot Dallen Trust. The Elliot Dallen Trust is run by volunteers and, thus, there are no salaries to pay, so every penny raised is passed on.
Our chosen charities currently include Maggie's, St Christopher's Hospice, World Land Trust and AMEND. So far, we have donated over £114,000 across these charities.
Donations to Maggie's Cancer Charity
Amongst other services, Maggie's cancer charity offers free sessions with a qualified psychologist for people who have been diagnosed with cancer. After receiving his diagnosis, Elliot was able to see a psychologist for a number of sessions through Maggie's, which he found to be extremely helpful. The Elliot Dallen Trust donated £33,330 to fund a part-time psychologist post at the Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Cardiff during 2022/23. This post provided many people with cancer with invaluable psychological support during such a difficult time in their lives. In early 2024 the Elliot Dallen Trust donated a further £16,000 to Maggie's to help fund a clinical psychologist post for 2024/25, bringing the total amount donated to Maggie's to an outstanding £49,330. This second donation was only possible due to the generous support received at our Charity Gala Fundraiser.
Donation to St Christopher's Hospice
Hospices across the country provide care and support to people at their most vulnerable times, for no charge. They can provide a sanctuary for people during their final weeks and days, outside of a hospital setting. Although Elliot chose to die at home, during his final weeks St Christopher's Hospice based in Sydenham provided care for Elliot which was a support to him and to his family. It's so crucial that St Christopher's Hospice continues to be able to care for people who are in need, and so we wanted to support them. In 2023/24, we donated £10,563 to St Christopher's Hospice, specifically to purchase a state-of-the-art hospital bed, which enables patients to reposition themselves at the click of a button without having to call nursing staff to manually move them. This is better both for patients, their families and the hospice nursing staff. Again, this donation was only possible due to the generous support received at our Charity Gala Fundraiser!
Annabel from the Elliot Dallen Trust, presenting a £10,563 cheque to Alison and Luke at St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham, London (Alison had cared for Elliot during his time there).
Donation to World Land Trust
Protecting the natural environment was something that Elliot cared about deeply. In March 2022 the Elliot Dallen Trust donated £25,000 to the World Land Trust (WLT), specifically for land purchase in the Maya Forest, Belize. The WLT is an international conservation charity which protects the world’s most biologically important and threatened habitats. Sir David Attenborough has supported the work of the WLT since 1989 and became a WLT patron in 2003. The Elliot Dallen Trust’s £25,000 donation has purchased 250 acres of land in the Maya Forest. This area is highly biodiverse due to its location (it is home to over 350 species of birds and to 70 species of mammal), and many of the flora and fauna are unique to the area. Without the land purchase, the land would most likely have been sold to Mennonite communities who would have cleared the forest areas for agricultural development, destroying the unique habitat. We are very pleased to have been able to help protect this area and you can find out more here:
https://www.worldlandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/BaA-project-briefs-Maya-Forest.pdf
Jennifer and Annabel from the Elliot Dallen Trust presenting Emma and Dan from
the World Land Trust with the £25,000 donation.
Donations to AMEND, for cancer research
The Elliot Dallen Trust funded a £10,000 annual research grant to AMEND for 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25, totalling £30,000 of support. This grant, The Elliot Dallen Award, specifically supported adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) research in the UK. You can find out more about the research projects that AMEND funds here (please scroll down to ‘Current and Past Awards’). As a rare cancer, ACC receives far less money for research than more common cancers. Therefore it is important to support ACC research in order to help speed up developments. Research into rarer cancers also has a beneficial impact on the more common cancers.
Annabel from the Elliot Dallen Trust presenting Jo Grey from AMEND with the first £10,000 cheque.
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