Agency set up by ex-Home Fundraising chiefs goes bust

hope&willThe charity agency launched by two former directors of the defunct door-to-door firm Home Fundraising has itself gone bust, just six months after opening for business.
Dominic Will and Neil Hope, who were joint MDs of Home Fundraising, set up Hope & Will as a limited company on March 13. It is understood that they paid £5,250 to Home’s administrators to buy back some of their former firm’s IT equipment.
They also hired a number of Home Fundraising staff although exact numbers are not known. The agency offered face-to-face fundraising, lottery and supporter engagement services across the UK, with regional hubs covering London, Scotland, the Midlands and North West and North of England.
However, according to Companies House, Hope & Will appointed Richard Hunt of SFP Restructuring as administrator late last week.
Third Sector reports that this has resulted in the loss of 150 jobs. Will told the magazine: “The plan was sound, but we were just taking a little too long to get to a more comfortable financial position. Margins are tight in this business, and unfortunately our pockets weren’t deep enough to plug those gaps.
“Everyone worked really hard to get something moving quickly, but the financials just took a bit too long to get where we needed to get to.”
In July, it was revealed that Home Fundraising will pay creditors just over 12% of what they are owed after breaching the terms of its company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to pay off debts.
The agency, which signed the CVA in May 2017, still owes £1.8m but will only pay back about £225,000, according to documents filed with Companies House.

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