Exploring a franchise with Hope into Action Thank you for considering becoming a Hope into Action Franchise Friend. Hope into Action enables churches to house the homeless. We began in Peterborough in 2010 and then moved into Cambridge, Norwich and Nottingham. We have now helped hundreds or homeless men and women out of poverty and won various awards for the quality of our approach along the way. Since those first four towns, every other home we’ve opened has been through a franchised approach. Sometimes this has been a passionate individual who has set up a new charity, specifically to replicate our model; sometimes it has been an existing Christian charity who has taken on our project to complement their other work and sometimes it has been a church who have wanted to run one, or maybe two, houses for the homeless. We now have ‘Franchise Friends’ in more than thirty towns and cities across the country. This Webpage briefly outlines our different Franchise models and some of the roles and responsibilities within a Hope into Action Franchise. At Hope into Action we are so blessed to enable the church to welcome tenants of any label (or none). We see God stir authentic faith into action, every day, all over the country. If your faith is stirred to holistically love those who have experienced homelessness, and you think your church would like to take action, partner with us! Got any questions? We'd love to hear from you! Where we are currently operating What you receive as a Franchise Friend Our Area Franchise Model Our Church Franchise Model Franchise Fees Roles - The Empowerment Worker Roles - The Friendship and Support Group Want to know more? Download a PDF containing an overview of this page here: DOWNLOAD Click below to see our Values Where we are currently operating You can see where we currently have franchises here: Where we work | Hope into Action UK If you would like to be part of this growing network, and have a heart for the church and the homeless, then we would love to talk to you! A note about our line-managed locations - Peterborough, Cambridge, Norwich and Nottingham: These four cities are the first we expanded into. We now have over 55 homes in these cities alone (about 50% of our work). It is through our work here that we develop best practice which is then rolled out to our Franchise Friends. We will not open any more line-managed locations. However we will, in our conversations with you, try and enable you to understand and work out which of our franchise models is most appropriate for you. What you receive as a Franchise Friend Increasingly we find that being able to say you are running an award winning model gives confidence to local government, agencies and donors. No matter which franchise model you choose, there are certain things that all of our franchise friends receive from us. This includes: • Our online manual and access to our SharePoint site to store your files • An advisor • Bespoke training and expertise: We provide in-person and online induction for all franchises where training is given on property management, tenant support and empowerment, fundraising and governance to name a few areas. • A calendar of training events from safeguarding to support to housing • Quality checking and auditing: all our franchises are visited and checked for quality at least once a year. We also conduct an annual online audit. • Use of our branding* • Advice on managing investors and finding investment** • Invitations to our annual retreat Our Franchise Models Area Franchise How does it work? We give the legal rights for a franchise to operate and replicate our model with any church in a given area. We stipulate this ‘territory’ on a map in the franchise agreement. What do we provide? In addition to the things outlined above, we provide the following to our full franchises: • Our brand: the ability to operate under our brand includes the use of a logo, social media accounts and a website. The website is designed and personalised to you for a small annual fee. We also provide templates for leaflets and other marketing literature. The following list shows the hallmarks that describe our full franchises • They have their own registered Charity, CIO or CIC, and Trustee Board set up • Franchise agreement signed with HIA:UK with an agreed catchment area to operate in • The franchise provides the Empowerment Worker and sources the local churches to partner with. • These churches sign a Service Level Agreement with the franchise and provide a ‘Friendship & Support group’ • Franchise collects rent, manages its own finances, staff and volunteers and fundraising. • The franchise can grow as much as it wants within the given catchment area in the franchise agreement • Interested churches within catchment area fall under the remit of the Area Franchise. Church Franchise How does it work? Sometimes a church approaches us with the vision to establish a house for the homeless, perhaps part of an already established social action ministry, or as a response to local need. Only one or two houses are intended to be established and there is no full franchise nearby. We give the legal rights for a church to operate and replicate our model for their church in a given town. The legal agreement is called an ‘SLA’ (Service Level Agreement). No separate charity needs to be set up and the house operates as part of the church’s ministry activities. What do we provide? In addition to the our standard package shown above, we provide the following for Church Franchises: • Bespoke help with applying for exempt accommodation status as a church • Advice for church leaders on motivating congregations, volunteer retention, and giving • Help for the franchise lead contact on house management and recruiting an Empowerment Worker • Access to our branding including the creation of a personalised Hope into Action logo and social media accounts Whilst we want to minimise the barriers to enabling churches to house the homeless, we charge an initial setup fee and a monthly fee which contributes towards the cost of franchise setup, IT, induction, ongoing training and support, individualised branding, and management of franchises. Franchise fees only cover approximately 30% of our direct costs for enabling you to house the homeless. We fundraise separately to fill the gap. Our current fees are: Initial fees The Initial fee for setting up a franchise is £2,450. This covers initial assessment and 4 days of induction training, access to our IT systems and online resources, help with finding investors, professional support to purchase and refurbish property, and a wealth of expertise and experience to draw on. Ongoing fees The table below applies to all Franchises No. of houses Monthly charge per house Total per month Total per year 0 £30 £30 £360 1 £60 £60 £720 2 £50 £100 £1,200 3 £45 £135 £1,620 4 £40 £160 £1,920 5 £30 £150 £1,800 6+ Fixed £125 £1,500 Renewal after 5 years, irrespective of number of houses Fixed £125 £1,500 The change of fee from 0 houses to 1 house is payable when the house is ‘opened’, by which we mean when the first tenant moves in. This is when the Franchise starts to receive rental income. Other fees Area Franchises must have a Hope into Action website which is currently charged at £200 per year by our website provider. HOPE training for F&S groups is currently charged at £175 for one day’s training, plus travel expenses for the trainer. We reserve the right to increase this in line with inflation, as we do with all fees. Our normal approach would be for an Advisor or HIA staff member to provide the first day of HOPE training. We will then train a local person with a 2 day ‘Training of Trainers’. They can then deliver subsequent HOPE training days, but we retain the option to assist on second HOPE training if we feel this is necessary. The Empowerment Worker One of the most important roles in the Hope into Action model is that of the Empowerment Worker. Where other agencies seek to ‘support’ their clients or service users, Hope into Action (HIA) prefer to ‘empower’ tenants. This subtle change of word gives the job role a different slant to a more traditional ‘support worker’ role and embodies our values as an organisation. We seek to encourage individuals to take responsibility for their own lives. The thoughts they have, the decisions they make and the behaviour they choose. We see a major difference between enabling and empowering and we strive to bring the latter. At the end of their two years’, the aim is for them to be able and willing to live independently and without support. The Empowerment Worker role can be paid or unpaid, and generally we say it takes about a day a week to support a house and partner church (but expect a busy period in the last stage of setting up the house for tenants). The Empowerment Worker should NOT also be the church leader. Broadly speaking, Empowerment Workers are responsible for empowering the tenant, guiding the church in their relationships and leading on house support. The Friendship and Support Group Want to know more? If you would like more information about franchising with Hope into Action, please contact our franchise team using this form (opens in new window).