A long-running Christian charity is facing a “funding crisis” which puts the future of its work “at risk”, it says.
Drug education charity Hope UK – established in Victorian times as the Band of Hope – says it is “urgently in need of support to help fund its work into next year.”
CEO Sarah Brighton says last year the organisation raised over £200,000 from donors, trust funds and grant-giving bodies, more than they had budgeted for – but now, during the first half of 2026, “funds were slow to come in from these sources, and in addition, we were without a full-time fundraiser for a few months.”
‘Moving forward in faith’
“We will do what we can in order to raise the funds so that the work may continue but ultimately this is God’s work and we are choosing to move forward in faith,” she added.
Today’s Hope UK began over 170 years ago (pictured, a medal struck for it in 1897), in response to the devastation caused by alcohol across society, especially for families and children, Brighton explained. “A few faithful people came together in response to that call from God. Hope UK has continued to serve this nation, and we are one of the few Christian temperance organisations from over a century ago, still around and delivering drug education across the UK,” she said.
