The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice

What The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice does

The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice (legally and operationally known as The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs) is an action-oriented research, policy, and capacity-building center housed at Temple University's Lewis Katz School of Medicine. Founded in 2015, the organization investigates and addresses basic needs insecurity among U.S. college students, spanning food, housing, mental health, childcare, transportation, and internet access. Its core asset is the Student Basic Needs Survey, the nation's largest of its kind, with over 500 colleges and universities and 500,000+ students participating since inception, including 74,350 students across 91 institutions in the 2023-2024 cycle.

The organization's product portfolio includes the Student Basic Needs Survey, the Hope Impact Partnerships (HIP) program (a three-tier subscription offering priced at $7,000, $17,500, and $35,000 per year providing survey administration, data dashboards, coaching, and capacity-building services), Policy & Advocacy services (including annual federal policy priorities, coalition letters to Congress, and Senate testimony), Education & Training Services, and an underlying data dashboard that enables institutional partners to disaggregate findings by student characteristics. The Hope Impact Partnerships program has grown to 126 active institutional participants across 49 states. The underlying technology is conventional survey infrastructure and data analytics rather than AI-augmented tooling.

Revenue is generated through a hybrid model: annual subscription fees from HIP institutional partners, foundation grants (notably from the Lumina Foundation and Gates Foundation to support federal and state policy work), and government/public funding for student basic needs initiatives. The organization also engages in federal and state policy advocacy, with named active coalitions around SNAP, Pell Grants, the Basic Needs Grant, and related federal programs. Its named institutional customers include City Colleges of Chicago, Dallas College, Del Mar College, Frederick Community College, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and Trinity Valley Community College, with all activity concentrated in the U.S. higher education sector.

Name

The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice

Legal name

The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs

Website

https://hope.temple.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs is a Temple University-affiliated research and policy center that operates the nation's largest student basic needs survey and sells tiered institutional partnerships to colleges and universities to assess and address student food, housing, and mental health insecurity across 49 states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Research & Policy Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (6117), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Research, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Partnerships (EDADALAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Survey, Formative Assessment & Classroom Response (Quizzes/Polls) Tools (EDAFADAN)

Keywords

• Higher education research
• Student basic needs
• Policy advocacy
• Institutional partnerships
• Capacity building

Headquarters

HQ city

Philadelphia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Hope Impact Partnerships Fees: Annual fees charged to colleges and universities for participation in the HIP program at three levels (I, II, III), providing survey data collection, coaching, training, and learning community access.
2. Foundation Grants: Funding from foundations including Lumina Foundation and Gates Foundation to support policy solutions and federal policy work for student basic needs.
3. Government/Public Funding: Support through federal programs and appropriations for student basic needs initiatives.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Hope Center operates the nation's largest Student Basic Needs Survey and the Hope Impact Partnerships (HIP) program, a tiered subscription partnership (Levels I–III) that provides colleges, universities, and state systems with survey data collection, a partner-facing data dashboard, coaching, training, and peer learning communities. It pairs these service offerings with federal and state policy advocacy and free research publications to drive systems-level change on student basic needs insecurity.

Product overview

The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs operates as an action-oriented research, policy, and capacity-building center offering a portfolio of interconnected programs. The core offerings include the Student Basic Needs Survey (the nation's largest basic needs survey), Hope Impact Partnerships (HIP) with tiered data collection and coaching levels, and Policy & Advocacy services. These products work together: institutions use the Survey to collect data, HIP to receive support for analyzing and acting on findings, and leverage Research & Publications to inform policy change. The organization does not operate as a traditional software product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hope Impact Partnerships (HIP) A multi-tiered partnership program (Levels I, II, III) priced at $7,000–$35,000 per year that enables U.S. colleges, universities, and state systems to deploy the Student Basic Needs Survey, access the partner Data Dashboard, and receive tiered coaching, training, action-planning support, and peer learning community access to address student basic-needs insecurity and advance equity goals.
• Student Basic Needs Survey The nation's largest basic needs survey instrument, deployed to over 500 colleges and universities and 500,000+ students across 49 states, measuring food insecurity, housing insecurity, homelessness, mental health, childcare, transportation, internet/technology access, enrollment patterns, and utilization of public benefits and campus supports.
• Education & Training Services Collaborative coaching and training delivered to colleges, universities, and state systems to support systems transformation that meets students' basic needs, encompassing internal task force assembly, cohort convenings, ecosystem inventory, 1:1 coaching, and capacity-building activities tailored to institutional context.

Quantifiable outcome

• 59% of students experience basic needs insecurity related to food or housing; 73% when including mental health, childcare, transportation, and internet access
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Complete College AmericaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization featured in blog posts and reports related to student basic needs and completion efforts.
• Temple UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Hope Center is housed within the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, providing institutional affiliation and IRB oversight for research activities.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Complete College America: National nonprofit focused on increasing college completion, particularly for historically underrepresented students. Listed as a Hope Center partner and operates at the intersection of research, policy advocacy, and institutional capacity-building — directly comparable in mission and operating model.
• The Education Trust: National nonprofit advocating for high academic achievement and equity from preschool through college. Closely comparable to Hope Center in combining equity-focused research, federal/state policy advocacy, and direct engagement with colleges and universities on student outcomes.
• Trellis Company: Nonprofit focused on college student success research and student support programs, historically serving Texas higher education. Directly comparable in conducting student basic needs and success research and providing related institutional services and tools.
• Ithaka S+R: Nonprofit research and consulting organization serving higher education and cultural institutions with strategic research, surveys, and advisory services. Closely comparable in operating model — research-driven insights sold to institutions for transformation — though broader in scope than basic needs.

Broad incumbents

• NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education: Major higher education professional association providing research, policy advocacy, and professional development for student affairs leaders. Overlaps with Hope Center's audience of student services leaders and shares a policy/research orientation but covers far broader topics than basic needs.
• American Council on Education (ACE): Umbrella higher education association representing presidents and senior leaders of accredited institutions. Comparable in federal policy advocacy, research publication, and convening roles; broader scope than Hope Center but reaches the same institutional buyer segment.
• EAB (formerly Advisory Board Company): Large-scale research and consulting provider for higher education leaders, offering benchmarking, surveys, and best-practice research. Directly comparable in survey-driven institutional benchmarking (similar to Hope Center's data dashboard) and consulting/coaching services but with a much broader portfolio.
• Gallup (Education Research): Major research organization producing widely cited student and higher education surveys (e.g., Gallup-Strada State of Higher Education, Hope Index). Directly comparable in national survey scale and institutional benchmarking; broader portfolio than Hope Center.
• Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT): Advocacy and support organization for community college governing boards, providing policy advocacy, research, and training. Comparable in federal/state policy advocacy targeting community colleges — a key Hope Center customer segment — though broader than basic needs specifically.

Emerging players

• Center for First-Generation Student Success: NASPA- and ACPA-affiliated initiative focused on first-generation student outcomes through research, resources, and institutional support. Highly comparable in mission (equity-oriented student success research and institutional capacity-building) but narrower population focus than Hope Center.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hope4college
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/templeuniversity
• Instagraminstagram.com/hope4college
• TikToktiktok.com/@hope4college?lang=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice