about the charity
Hope is a progressive anti-poverty charity that works to improve the lives of anyone affected by poverty and exclusion, including those affected by homelessness, addiction and poor mental health; through providing services, training, campaigning and advocacy
Hope is a community charity owned by local people, doing good things in Northampton for local people:
- We provide practical services and things that help people survive poverty and exclusion
- We particularly help people who are homeless, offenders, those with addictions and mental health issues, through therapy, diversionary and practical help
- We feed those in food poverty
- We help people to access training and skills to improve employability
- We offer diversionary and fun activities and experiences to those on low incomes
- We campaign against poverty and negative attitudes and poor treatment towards people on low incomes
- We support migrants and refugees
- We work to improve our community in partnership with community members
- We have a strong environmental aspect to our work – growing and recycling projects linked to the above
We were founded in 1974 by Michael Mulligan as a homelessness organisation; we were registered as a charity in 1992 and as a charitable company in 2011.
Since 1974 that time have worked with tens of thousands of people in our town. We have provided services on an unbroken basis to people since that date, originally through the Catholic Church, although we have no specific religious focus today. We welcome and support people from all faiths and none amongst our supporters, staff and volunteers.
We strive to work towards the highest standards of quality governance in charities, complying fully with all legal requirements and working in an ethical way and actively pursuing equality of opportunity and fair treatment to everyone we work with, our staff and volunteers and suppliers. To this end we are accredited for our work with volunteers under Investing In Volunteers, for our social enterprise by the Social Enterprise Quality Mark, and hold the Trusted Charity Mark (formerly PQASSO) level 1 accreditation for charity governance, as well as the Improving Quality Mark. We pay the Living wage.
We are members of NCVO.
Our mission, aims and intended outcomes are set out here
You can read about our social impact here
Read about some of our successes here
Our approach:
We have a clear approach, supported by theory, research and evidence, on what we are trying to do with and for people who use our services. We are a social and community work agency and our approach is based in social and community work theory. Read about our model here
As well as work at the individual level, Hope works to effect change at the level of community. Read about this here.
We are a strongly values-led charity. For a statement on our values, read them here
Hope is committed to anti-racist practice. Read about that here
Our Governance:
Hope Centre is a charity (no.1015743) and company limited by guarantee (no 02768301)
We are governed by a trustee body. Trustees are recruited from amongst our members at annual general meetings. Anyone can become a member of Hope and we welcome new members to join at any time, to offer strategic direction and local accountability. Just contact us through our main office if interested using this form. There is a fee of £5 per year or life membership at £40.
The trustees are:
Margaret Jones, Ben Leadsom (chair), Jackie Dunn (treasurer), Charles Manners, Pinder Chauhan, Julie Sadler, Sara Homer and Maria Arce Moreira, with Jonathan Nunn, leader of the West Northants Council as an observer.
Hope Enterprises is a wholly owned trading arm of Northampton Hope with a separate board, fully accountable to the Hope Centre (see its website) also chaired by the chair of the Hope charity Board.
Our patrons are:
The Right Hon Earl Spencer; Right Revd David J Oakley, Bishop of Northampton; Sally Keeble, former MP; David Laing, former Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire; Nick Petford, University of Northampton Vice Chancellor; Kelvin Thomas, Chairman, Northampton Town Football Club
Reports on what we do:
To download our annual reports please select from the options below.
John Smith, former chairman and treasurer and after whom our training building, the John Smith Centre, is named, in respect of the work he did for us for so long, before his death in 2016 (portrait by service user, Juris)
