What Hot Chocolate Trust does

Hot Chocolate Trust is a Scottish charitable company limited by guarantee, founded in 2001 and headquartered at The Steeple Church in Dundee city centre. It delivers open-access youth work services to approximately 400 young people aged 12–21 per year, including drop-in sessions, one-to-one support, group work, and trips. The Trust operates a trauma-informed, relational model of youth engagement, with a workforce of 11–50 staff delivering programming across sport, the arts, mental health, and employability.

The organisation runs two notable non-service assets. TeckleData is a proprietary monitoring and evaluation platform developed internally to capture outcomes across its youth programmes; the Trust is positioning it as a productised offering for other youth-sector organisations. Hot Chocolate TV is a YouTube channel extending the Trust's reach into digital content and providing a low-cost engagement channel for young people not physically accessing The Steeple Church.

Its business model is grant- and donation-funded. Income is drawn from a diversified portfolio of charitable trusts and public sector funders, including BBC Children in Need, the National Lottery Community Fund, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Ragdoll Foundation, and Dundee City Council. The Trust supplements restricted grant income with donations and is exploring earned income via TeckleData. Strategic partnerships with research bodies — notably the Ada Lovelace Institute, Social Research ReImagined, and ACAMH — anchor its evidence-based practice positioning.

Name

Hot Chocolate Trust

Legal name

Hot Chocolate Trust

Website

https://hotchocolate.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hot Chocolate Trust is a Dundee-based Scottish charity, founded in 2001, delivering trauma-informed youth work services to approximately 400 young people aged 12–21 annually through drop-ins, one-to-one support, and group programmes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Youth Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Other Individual and Family Services (62419)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Mental Health, Counseling & Wellbeing (Education-Linked) Nonprofits (BPAGADAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Dropout Prevention, Alternative Education & Re-Engagement Nonprofits (BPAGADAL)

Keywords

• Youth work services
• Community youth support
• Monitoring evaluation tools
• Youth engagement programs
• Charity welfare services

Headquarters

HQ city

Dundee

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Grants and Donations: Charitable organization funded primarily through grants from trusts, foundations, government bodies, and individual donations. Most significant expenditures are on salaries to support relationship-building with young people. No direct revenue generation from services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Hot Chocolate Trust is a Dundee-based youth work charity offering free drop-in sessions, one-on-one support, groups, trips, and residentials for young people aged 12-21. It has also developed TeckleData, a monitoring and evaluation tool for the youth sector that is sold to other youth and community organisations.

Product overview

Hot Chocolate Trust is a Dundee-based youth work charity offering a portfolio of services to young people aged 12-21. Core services include drop-in youth work (Open Sessions), 1-1 support, and groups/trips. Their flagship product is TeckleData, an online monitoring and evaluation tool available for purchase by other youth and community organisations. The organisation also operates Hot Chocolate TV (YouTube channel) and runs special programmes like the Stretch Project focused on inclusive sports and physical activity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TeckleData: An online monitoring and evaluation tool for youth and community organisations that puts young people and values at the heart of evaluation
• Hot Chocolate TV (HCTV)

Products and services

• TeckleData

Quantifiable outcome

• Engages approximately 400 young people annually
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ada Lovelace InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSelected as delivery partner for Ada Lovelace Institute's research project 'Grown Up?' which explores young people's lived experiences of digital technology. Hot Chocolate co-designs and delivers a creative, peer-led, and relationship-based research process grounded in their youth work practice.
• Social Research, ReImaginedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLed by Victoria Jupp Kina, PhD. Partnering with Hot Chocolate Trust on the 'Grown Up?' research project to co-design and deliver creative research processes with young people.
• Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerHot Chocolate Trust was featured in an ACAMH podcast episode 'Mind the Kids: Home fae Home' exploring trauma-informed community spaces. Published a case study paper in the CAMH journal.
• Biome CollectiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated on games design activities with young people at Hot Chocolate Trust.
• Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered for Riso printing group sessions with young people.
• Mr Drew PhotographyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated on photography weekend sessions with young people.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Barnardo's: One of the UK's largest children's charities, running services for children and young people including mental health, disability and youth justice support. Comparable as a relationship-based youth support provider, though at much larger national scale.
• UK Youth: Membership body supporting a national network of youth organisations and advocating for the youth sector. Comparable as it sits squarely in the youth-work sector Hot Chocolate operates in, but functions as an umbrella rather than direct service provider.
• YMCA England & Wales: National federation delivering youth and community programmes including accommodation, training and wellbeing. Comparable as a long-established UK youth-services provider, though operating as a federated network rather than a single-site charity.
• The Prince's Trust: The UK's largest youth-focused charity, supporting 11-30 year olds through education, training and employment programmes. Comparable as a UK charity delivering youth-work interventions, but operates at national scale with multiple programmes rather than a single city-centre drop-in.

Direct peers

• Centrepoint: UK charity supporting disadvantaged young people aged 16-25 with housing, education and wellbeing services. Comparable as a youth-targeted support charity using relationship-based, in-person engagement with vulnerable young people in city locations.
• The Mix: UK charity providing free, confidential support and information for under-25s across mental health, relationships and life skills. Comparable as a youth-targeted support charity, but delivers primarily through digital channels rather than in-person drop-ins.
• StreetGames: UK charity using sport and physical activity to engage disadvantaged young people, including via the Stretch-style project model Hot Chocolate Trust runs. Comparable for combining youth work methodology with sport-based engagement for vulnerable young people.
• Children 1st: Scottish children's charity delivering family support, wellbeing and child-protection services across Scotland. Comparable as a Scotland-based children's/youth charity using relationship-based practice, but with national reach rather than single-city focus.

Regional players

• Young Scot: Scottish national agency providing information, opportunities and a digital platform for 11-26 year olds. Comparable as a Scotland-restricted youth-information and engagement organisation, though more focused on information brokerage than intensive youth work.

Emerging players

• Kooth: Digital mental health and wellbeing platform commissioned by the NHS for children and young people. Comparable as a youth mental-health and wellbeing service provider, but delivered online and at much larger commissioned scale than a single-site charity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@hotchocolatetv808
• Facebookfacebook.com/HotChocolateHCT
• Xx.com/HotChocoTrust
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hot-chocolate-trust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Hot Chocolate Trust