Action for Hope

What Action for Hope does

Action for Hope is a nonprofit cultural relief and development organization founded in 2015 and headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, with a registered branch in Amman, Jordan. It operates cultural programs (music schools, film/video schools, theater training, storytelling, community cultural centers, and mobile cultural relief convoys) for refugees and displaced communities across the Middle East and North Africa, including Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, and Tunisia. Programs are delivered free of charge to beneficiaries through two fixed cultural centers in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, music schools in Lebanon and Jordan, mobile convoys in refugee camps, and regional training workshops such as the Fa'ael program for cultural managers.

The organization operates on a nonprofit funding model with no commercial revenue: it is supported by institutional grants and donations from foundations including Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, DOEN Foundation, the British Council (via the Cultural Protection Fund), and UNESCO. Notable programmatic assets include an 18-month/700+ hour music curriculum, a 350+ hour film school program, and a published music education guidebook that the organization describes as the first in the Arab region. Operational reach to date includes 137+ music school graduates, 68 film school graduates, 150+ concerts performed for 30,000+ attendees since 2016, and 8 cultural relief convoys.

Leadership was refreshed in 2025 with the appointment of Fairooz Al-Tamimi as Executive Director, succeeding founder Basma El Husseiny, who continues to lead the General Assembly. The board includes figures from Human Rights Watch, English PEN, the Middle East Institute, MacDowell, and other international cultural and human rights institutions. The organization originated as a 2013 pilot under Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy) and operates today with approximately 7 employees and a portfolio of sub-brands including Landscapes of Hope, Rababa, and Fa'ael.

Name

Action for Hope

Legal name

Action for Hope

Website

https://act4hope.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Action for Hope is a Lebanon-based nonprofit founded in 2015 that delivers free cultural relief and development programs, including music schools, film schools, theater training, and mobile cultural convoys, to displaced and refugee communities across the Middle East and North Africa, funded by institutional grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Relief and Development Services

NAICS

Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Educational Support Services (611710), Performing Arts Companies (7111)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Refugee, IDP & Migration Humanitarian Assistance (BPAGAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Disaster Recovery, Reconstruction & Resilience Programs (BPAGAAAK), Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK), MHPSS & Trauma-Informed Support for Displaced Populations (BPADAHAJ), Civic, Citizenship & Community Engagement Education (EDAAAEAI)

Keywords

• Cultural relief programs
• Arts education
• Community cultural centers
• Refugee support services
• Cultural development NGO

Headquarters

HQ city

Beirut

HQ country

Lebanon

HQ region

Middle East

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: As a nonprofit cultural relief and development organization, Action for Hope operates primarily through donations, institutional grants, and foundation funding. Revenue supports cultural programs for displaced communities across the Middle East.

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Action for Hope provides cultural relief and development programs for populations affected by wars and forced displacement in the Middle East, delivered through mobile Cultural Relief Convoys, Community Cultural Centers, and partner networks. Its programming spans music education, film and video production, theater training and performance, cultural management capacity building, storytelling, visual arts, and supporting cultural rights and policy development for refugees and host communities.

Product overview

Action for Hope is a cultural NGO providing cultural relief and development programs for displaced and refugee populations in the Middle East. The organization operates a portfolio of interconnected cultural programs including music education (Rababa instrument-making, Music Schools with 18-month/700-hour curricula, video/film school with 350+ hours of training), performing arts (theater training and production, storytelling), cultural management (Fa'ael workshops, Art Lives artist development), community interventions (Khatwa, Cultural Relief Convoys), and cultural networking (Landscapes of Hope network, Wa Sahlan Festival). Programs operate through community cultural centers in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and Jordan, with regional expansion to Iraq and Sudan. The organization also publishes a music education guidebook documenting its alternative methodology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Landscapes of Hope: A global civil society network that stimulates and supports collaboration among civil society actors and promotes the role of arts and culture in social change.
• Rababa
• Fa'ael

Products and services

• Cultural Relief Convoys

Quantifiable outcome

• 8 cultural relief convoys reaching thousands of people since founding
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAction for Hope started in summer 2013 as a pilot program under the umbrella of Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), the leading pan-Arab cultural organization. Al Mawred Al Thaqafy is also a partner in the Fa'ael Syria program and the consortium project 'Tomorrow: Culture as a Cornerstone for Syria's Future'.
• Ettijahat – Independent CulturemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEttijahat – Independent Culture is a partner in the Fa'ael Syria program (2025-2026), which trains cultural activists and managers working outside Damascus in communities long deprived of cultural infrastructure.
• AflamunamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAflamuna is a partner in the Fa'ael Syria program (2025-2026), linking training to opportunities for creation and public engagement for independent artists and cultural workers in Syria.
• UNESCOminorOthersListed as a donor/partner organization; Hanane Hajj Ali is a member of the UNESCO Expert Facility of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• UNESCO (Culture Sector): UN agency for cultural heritage and expression with which Action for Hope partners. Operates large-scale cultural preservation and protection programs overlapping with Action for Hope's 'On the Tracks of Music' heritage work.
• UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees): Major UN agency delivering education, health, and relief services to Palestinian refugees across the MENA region. Operates at vastly larger scale but shares the displaced-population mandate that Action for Hope's cultural programs serve.
• British Council (Arts & Culture Programs): Core funder and strategic partner of Action for Hope via the Cultural Protection Fund. Operates a much larger portfolio of international cultural programs with overlapping audience and artist development goals.

Direct peers

• Ettijahat – Independent Culture: Syria-focused cultural NGO supporting independent artists and cultural infrastructure, currently co-delivering the Fa'ael Syria program with Action for Hope. Operates in the same displaced-community cultural relief space.
• Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy): Parent organization that incubated Action for Hope as a pilot program and remains a core strategic partner. Both are pan-Arab cultural NGOs supporting independent culture, capacity building, and cultural rights in the region.
• Mimeta: Norwegian cultural rights organization supporting independent journalism and arts in the MENA region. Shares the cultural development and rights-defending orientation of Action for Hope's work.
• Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC): Pan-Arab grantmaking institution for arts and culture, co-founded by Action for Hope's Basma El Husseiny. Comparable in mission, regional scope, and donor base supporting cultural practitioners across the Arab world.
• Shubbak: Europe's largest festival of contemporary Arab culture. Compares to Action for Hope's Wa Sahlan Festival and concert programming in promoting Arab cultural expression to displaced and broader audiences.

Emerging players

• Asylum Arts: Nonprofit mobilizing the arts community to support refugees and displaced people. Shares Action for Hope's mission of using arts and culture to address the needs of displaced populations.
• Refugee Orchestra Project: Music-focused nonprofit using orchestral programming to support refugee integration. Directly comparable to Action for Hope's music schools and ensemble programming for displaced communities, though operating in different geographies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/actforhope
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/Actionforhope
• Facebookfacebook.com/act4hope
• Instagraminstagram.com/actforhope
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/actionforhope

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Action for Hope