Turning poverty and isolation into warmth and local connection
The Warm Welcome Story
The Warm Welcome story began when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Church leaders came together to see what could be done about the cost-of-living crisis. What happened next was quite remarkable. During the worst cost-of-living crisis in 70 years, the Warm Welcome Campaign emerged as a collective response to build a movement for a fairer and friendlier society by supporting warm and welcoming spaces in every community in the UK.
Warm Welcome, through the collective power of local communities, provided a warm and welcoming space to over half a million people across 7,000 Warm Welcome Spaces.
The Warm Welcome Campaign is delivered by Good Faith Partnership in collaboration with over 50 partners and the Warm Welcome Spaces.
“The speed at which an idea first formulated last summer has turned into a burgeoning national movement is a reflection not only of the most severe cost of living crisis in 70 years, but also of the potential that often lies latent in our communities.”
Gordon Brown
Former Prime Minister
Over 14.4 million people live in poverty in the UK and over 7 million people experience chronic loneliness
It is estimated that disconnected communities could cost the UK economy £32 billion every year
Our Purpose and Vision
The Warm Welcome Season
When the clocks go back, thousands of Warm Welcome Spaces open their doors to their local community, offering everyone a friendly space to keep warm, connect, and make new friends. There are over 7000 Warm Welcome Spaces across the UK, and we have a big ambition to grow a network of spaces in every part of the UK, so everyone can access warm and welcoming space.
Warm Welcome Spaces come in all shapes and sizes: community centres, libraries, churches, community cafes, arts centres, local businesses, and schools. No matter where they are based, you can be assured of a warm and friendly welcome. Every Warm Space is unique and offers different kinds of support and activities.
Warm Welcome is a seasonal campaign. It begins when the clocks go back at the end of October, and the cold and dark days and nights draw in. Our campaign closes when the clocks leap forward in March, signalling the start of Spring and brighter days ahead.
How we work
The Warm Welcome Campaign tackles isolation and poverty in the UK by bringing local communities together, equipping, supporting, and connecting thousands of warm and welcoming spaces to help local people thrive. We do this by:
Supporting Spaces
Resourcing, celebrating, and connecting Warm Welcome Spaces across the country, showing how communities can work together to turn poverty, disconnection and exclusion into warmth and local connection.
Access to all
Ensuring everyone has an open invitation to a warm and welcoming space so they can connect with others, get the support they need and feel part of their local community.
50+ Partners
The Warm Welcome campaign is led by a coalition of over 50 charitable organisations, delivered by Good Faith Partnership in collaboration with partners and the Warm Welcome Spaces.
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Our First Year
In our first year, Warm Welcome, through the collective power of local spaces, provided a warm and welcoming space to over half a million people, hosting nearly 2.5 million individual visits, while being supported by over 17,000 volunteers every week.
550000
individual visitors to Warm Welcome Spaces
2400000
visits to Warm Welcome Spaces over the Winter
150000
visits to Warm Welcome Spaces every week
Our Impact
In its first year, our campaign supported Warm Welcome Spaces through offering branding, resources, webinars, a social media community for Spaces to connect, regular email updates and a micro-grant scheme. The Warm Welcome Campaign achieved high-profile overage, including across BBC News, Radio 4, The Guardian, and The Mirror. Our Impact Report shows that more than half the guests who visited the Spaces said that without the Warm Welcome Space they would have been at home with the heating off, while 60% said that visiting the Space had helped them financially.
Along with providing warmth and welcome, Warm Spaces played a significant role in tackling loneliness and isolation and improving people’s mental health and wellbeing. Our report shows that almost 40% of responders said they ‘always’ or ‘often’ felt lonely before coming to a Warm Welcome Space. The number drops significantly to just 6% after visiting a Warm Welcome Space. Warm Welcome Spaces are having a far-reaching impact on loneliness and isolation. Whilst many people came to Warm Welcome Spaces for the warmth, they came back for the welcome, the sense of belonging and the connection that they found.
Can you help run a Warm Welcome Space?
Contact us
Have a question? Get in touch with us!