Organization Profile

At the end of the day the people who will suffer as a result of this fallout are the most vulnerable in our global society – those who need us most: the children, the homeless, the old, the sick, the poor and the most underprivileged. I would like to take this opportunity to give key governance information on The Hope Foundation. I do not take a salary, I am not saying that all people in the charity sector should not take a salary; this is something that I choose to do. I feel that people are entitled to a fair salary. We are a fully subscribed member of the ICTR, Dochas, Comhlamh, The Wheel and Credibility Alliance, ensuring full transparency, accountability and adherence to good governance and best practice. These organizations ensure that we are supported in keeping up to date on all our Policies and Procedures.

Our audited accounts are available on our website using the SORP system as part of the recommended account keeping procedure, along with our annual reports. We continue to be committed to keeping our administration costs as a low as possible and we rely on the generosity of a number of pro-bono service providers. We recognize our responsibility to you the donors, sponsors, our many visitors to India, school students, volunteers and our many fundraisers who have supported HOPE so generously over the past years.

Throughout the terrible difficulties of the past years of recession, we have succeeded in honoring all our commitments to the streets and slum dwellers and the children that we had committed to help. This could not have been done without your wonderful generosity and loyalty, of that of our volunteers and our amazing staff both in Ireland, India and UK who give tirelessly of their time. I thank you almost sincerely and I ask you for your continued support, the children that we help do not have anybody else to call on, we are their only lifeline to survival.

Every Blessing and good wishes.

Maureen Forrest
(Founder & Honorary Director)

To have achieved so much in such a short space of time is testament to the persistence and dedication of Hope Kolkata's staff, under the Directorship of Geeta and the ongoing support from the Branch office staff. The driving force and commitment of Maureen Forrest and the HOPE team in Ireland makes it all possible. Our sincere gratitude to the many overseas and local donors, visitors, and volunteers who help by their incredible generosity and support. I realize how important the help, understanding and courage of so many people has been in overcoming challenges and expecting the best from ourselves and the children. The children have enriched all of our lives and for which we are very grateful.

"God sends each person into this world With a special message to deliver, With a special song to sing, With a special act of love to bestow." - John Powell

The following letter is a special message from one of the girls in the Hope Home -

"The word 'hope' means dreams and these dreams do come true. It is a place to have dreams and fulfill it. We all stay here, it is like our house. We have our house mothers and house fathers, who give us love, support, care and many things which a child needs to grow. From the age of very small to 18 or 22 we stay here. We all love it very much. We have all age group children and everyone goes to school like some go to Loreto Convent Entally, Modern Public, Blooming bud, Saraswati Bidha Bhavan etc. Some children stay in hostel like St. Ninians, Mass Education, Bijoy bhumi and many other hostel, except for education we learn many other things like dancing, singing, swimming, Karate etc. We also learn to stitch and do handcraft. Few children are there who do beauticians course. We are very proud to be here, and see such good people around us who guide us so much. This is a place where we can express our feelings. We all stay together. Staying together gives us the skill of cooperation. It helps us to develop leadership and also to become self dependent. We all have fun, we go out for weekends. We went to many places on summer vacation for tour - Shimla, Kalingpong, Gantak, Dega, Puti etc. We have different religions here and all are from different religions. We celebrate all festivals, this helps us to respect each beings. We also meet our parents, aunties and uncles once a week. We feel very happy. We eat very nice and healthy food that our house mothers prepare for us. They do a lot of good and hard work for us. We have 2 girls homes and I boys. Girls who are less than 13 stay in Kasba home and the rest stay in Panditya. There is a time for all of us to go to the hostel, this system helps more and more children. We love to be here and we also thank God for everything he has given us and we promise this that we all had a dream he will fulfill it and grow us a good human being and also to be the future leaders of the world. This is all we had to say about my sweet hope."

My experience in HOPE has led me to conclude that the real miracle is this - the more we share the more we have.

Jenny Browne
Overseas Director

HOPE continues to see change among children, who were illiterates, run always, abused, exploited, denied of their fundamental rights and who got transformed to become educated, skilled, employed, independent, self-reliant, contributing to their families and communities.

We have enabled youth who would have been rag pickers, unskilled labour, into addiction and out of school etc, now into university graduates, skilled professionals, lucratively employed, and capable of taking care of their family in a positive path.

HOPE is being committed to things that we can change and to areas where we can make difference as Mahatama Gandhi said “We must be the change we wish to see". Our on-going commitment to Health, Education, Protection, Skill enhancement programme is paramount in breaking the cycle of poverty.

We have being firm in pursuing our values, recognizing our short comings and we have been open to new learning and experiences from the communities and our supporting partners with whom we work with. Our achievements are shared in the annual report every year.

The organization is grateful to The Hope Foundation Ireland for the continuous support since the inception for the needy children and people in Kolkata, India. The organization would like to express gratitude to the community we serve as well as to individuals, other network organization and donors–The Hope Foundation UK & Germany, Irish Aid, Vital for Children, Bekind Ireland, Lotus Child, Frobel, Sky Children Onlus, G2B Foundation, Butterflies, Porticus, Volunteers, Friends of Hope, HSBC, Komatsu, CESC, Blue Dart, and other Corporates, Schools, Colleges and Government Institutions. I would like to thank individuals, staff and Board members for the dedication towards the organization.

Together we ensuring that positive changes is possible by giving HOPE to the most needy children and people in our society.

Geeta Venkadakrishnan
Director