Molly Ollys Wishes

Registered charity 1145312 · since 2012mollyolly.co.uk·United Kingdom·Updated 30 October 2026

At a glance

£200k

Annual giving, year to 30 September 2025

From filed accounts

Key takeaways

If your work supports children aged 0 to 18 with life-threatening illnesses and their families in the UK, this funder's stated aim fits closely.
Its annual report shows £200,000 awarded, and it describes delivering wishes of up to around £500 each, so a request should be sized to that scale; no grant range is stated.
Its published process is for individual wishes, requested by parents or carers on a form signed by a health professional, and no route for an organisation seeking money for its own project is described, so check with the charity before applying.
It does not fund financial assistance for any other reason, overseas travel, pets, or wishes that would create an ongoing commitment, so organisations whose work falls outside children's life-threatening illness in the UK should not apply.
Timing and how competitive it is are not stated.

Overview

Molly Ollys Wishes is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1145312).

Molly Ollys Wishes exists to support children with life-threatening illnesses and their families in the UK. It was set up by parents whose daughter was diagnosed with a Wilms tumour and, after years of treatment, died; they saw many patients without the emotional or financial support their own family had. The annual report shows £200,000 awarded, and the charity says it has delivered 685 wishes, each up to around £500 in value. Its main work is giving gifts and experiences to individual children, donating its therapeutic toy Olly The Brave and story books, and bespoke projects such as supporting paediatric palliative care services and furnishing the Magnolia House palliative care facility at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

What they fund

Priority Areas

Molly Ollys supports children aged 0–18 with life-threatening illnesses and their families in the UK. It provides individual wishes, including gifts, equipment and experiences, to help children cope and support emotional wellbeing. It also donates its therapeutic toy Olly The Brave and story books to children, hospitals and community nursing teams. Its wider work includes bespoke projects with the NHS, including development of paediatric palliative care services, and support events where families can meet and share experiences. Wishes are individual to each child and are discussed with families and the relevant health professional so that the support is appropriate to the child’s treatment journey.

Themes

Life-threatening illness support
Paediatric palliative care
Therapeutic toys and books

Geographic Focus

UK.

What they don't fund

Financial assistance for any other reason
Wishes only:
- children and young people who are not aged 0 to 18 years of age
- children and young people who do not live in the UK
- children and young people who do not have a life-threatening illness or condition, and are not going through, or about to start, their treatment journey, or are not in the situation where no treatment is available
- requests for a wish item whose purpose is not to give emotional support to seriously unwell children and their families
- requests for a wish that are not endorsed by a health professional involved in the care of the individual
- more than one wish for each individual (normally)
- wishes for overseas travel (not normally granted)
- wishes for activities that the relevant health professionals consider are inappropriate (not normally granted)
- wishes for matters which would create an on-going responsibility or commitment for the Charity (not normally granted)
- any long-term responsibility or liability associated with a wish, or anything which requires the Charity to sign a contract
- pets nor anything outside of the UK
- any item requested if this is contrary to any legislation or formal guidance, for example from expert organisations

How to apply

For wishes for individual children, parents or carers download the application form, complete it and post or email it to Molly Ollys. The form must be signed by one of the child’s health care professionals; a team representative then discusses the wish with the applicant.

What to send:

Wishes
- The wish application form, completed fully and signed by a health professional involved in the care of the child.
- Permission for the charity to share your contact details with third parties.

Applying again: Wishes: We do not normally provide more than one wish to each child. However, there may be specific circumstances (for example if the child has sadly become palliative), supported by the health professional, where we will consider this as an exception.

Where they fund

Where it says it funds

United Kingdom

Similar funders

Funders supporting work similar to Molly Ollys Wishes.

The Azaylia FoundationNo public processGave £171k The Edwina Mountbatten and Leonora Children's FoundationRollingGave £250k The Taylor Family FoundationGave £2.5M Iceland Foods Charitable FoundationNo public processGave £933k St. James's Place Charitable FoundationInvitation onlyGave £8.8M James Tudor FoundationFixed deadlinesGave £1.4M Nagle Family FoundationRollingGave £253k The Desmond FoundationRollingGave £434k The Lockwood Charitable FoundationRollingGave £1.5M David Yarrow FoundationNo public processGave £295k

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 30 September 2021	£391,824	£323,320	—	Accounts for year to 30 September 2021
year to 30 September 2022	£488,093	£408,631	—	Accounts for year to 30 September 2022
year to 30 September 2023	£622,977	£897,531	£312,800	Accounts for year to 30 September 2023
year to 30 September 2024	£692,741	£521,220	—	Accounts for year to 30 September 2024
year to 30 September 2025	£932,643	£846,688	£200,000	Accounts for year to 30 September 2025

Income vs grants paid

IncomeGrants paid

Total value each financial year

YE 2023

£313k grants

YE 2025

£200k awarded

Grants paid stayed within income across the 2 years shown.

Grants paid, year to 30 September 2023: grants to institutions, as reported on the charity register (Part B).
Grants paid, year to 30 September 2025: grants awarded in the year, as reported in the accounts.

— No grants figure for that year.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.