£395,000 secured to tackle homelessness
Hope into Action: £395,000 secured to tackle homelessness
Hope into Action approached Better Story, looking for expert support to secure funding from trusts and foundations.
Hope into Action is a charity that tackles homelessness by providing housing, wraparound support, and community integration. Their approach transforms lives by offering people experiencing homelessness a pathway to independence and employment.
The charity already had an inspiring mission and proven impact, but required professional support to articulate its work in a compelling way to funders and to find funding sources.
Trusts and Foundations Consultancy
We have provided our Trusts and Foundations Consultancy Services for the past 18 months, becoming part of their team. Our first priority was developing a comprehensive funding strategy. This involved consultation with Hope into Action's leadership team to understand their funding priorities, financial pressures, and growth plans.
We then conducted detailed research into the charity's services and impact data. This formed the foundation for developing five strategic cases for support. The cases for support covered core costs, Empowerment Worker salaries, fire alarm installation, the Transition to Employment Fund, and volunteer training. Each case required a different approach tailored to specific funders, highlighting different project impacts and outcomes that would resonate with them. These became essential, adaptable resources for all subsequent applications.
During our partnership, we conducted extensive research, prospecting 212 trusts and foundations and qualifying over 110 potential funders to date. Each funding opportunity was analysed to ensure alignment between the specific case for support and the funder's priorities. Once this was established, we crafted tailored applications for funders that highlighted the relevant case for support.
We have submitted 43 high-quality applications and expressions of interest to date. So far, we have secured £395,000 in funding across multiple grants for multiple years.
Long-Term Impact
Our work went beyond applications. We supported Hope into Action in developing a funding strategy for Trusts and Foundations, one that balances large, multi-year grants with smaller trust donations, ensuring resilience and reducing overdependence on any single funding source.
The funding secured through our partnership has provided Hope into Action with the financial stability and growth needed to continue their life-changing work with some of society's most vulnerable people.
Jon Kuhrt, CEO of Hope into Action, said:
“It’s been a great experience working with Better Story on our grant fundraising. Their team have shown an instinctive understanding of the faith and values that drive us and have also grasped the nuances and complexity of our frontline work. Best of all they have been helped us communicate this succinctly and professionally to foundations which has helped unlock funding. In short, they have lived up to their name and have helped us share a Better Story about what we do to those who want to partner with us.”