The Origins of Aspire

The earliest roots of Aspire can be traced back to the late 1990s, when two Oxford University graduates, Paul Harrod and Mark Richardson, established a door-to-door and catalogue sales business in their hometown of Bristol in 1998, with a social justice goal of offering paid employment to people experiencing homelessness.

Many organisations offered information, advice and guidance: Aspire went further and offered jobs. In late 2000, they started work on an ambitious franchise strategy ‘to create 30 outlets by the end of 2003’, forming a new company – the Aspire Group – to lead the operation.

With its new administrative headquarters in London, by September 2001 the Aspire Group had opened nine franchises across England, including an Aspire outlet in Oxford, incorporated in August 2001.

The leading figure in Oxford at this time was Mark Nightall of the English Churches Housing Group, who was effectively the founder of Aspire in Oxford. These regional outlets distributed catalogues (for gifts and trinkets), delivered orders, and supervised and trained employees who were experiencing homelessness.

Politicians, funders, and the press were overflowing with praise. The new Rough Sleepers Unit headed by Louise Casey took an interest, the (then) Prime Minister Tony Blair called Aspire’s employees an “inspiration,” and (then) Prince Charles told its founders, “Your track record to date is most impressive.”

After a while however, it became clear that there were serious problems with Harrod and Richardson’s business model. By summer 2003, the Aspire Group faced a cash flow crisis and by the end of the year it was effectively bankrupt. The collapse of the Aspire Group shocked the social enterprise movement in the UK and inflicted a blow to social enterprise’s credibility as a way to address social issues.

The closure of the national Aspire Group did not however spell the end of its regional outlets. To generate additional income and employment, the franchisees across England had started to establish secondary businesses, including a bicycle repair shop, a window cleaning service, and a furniture manufacturing business.

In Oxford, Aspire had already taken a decision to move away from the national Aspire brand and diversified its business activity, first by securing a contract with Oxford City Council to erect the market stalls at Gloucester Green, before investing in establishing a gardening service.

Aspire became a registered charity in January 2007, and at around this time Aspire established a partnership with Burford Garden Centre, which was transformational for the organisation. Burford donated some ground to Aspire for use as a training garden, also providing its expertise and support.

Fast forward to 2011, and Aspire Oxford had moved into the old St Thomas’s School in Osney Lane, which was offered free of charge by Christ Church College. It was a small team composed of only nine or so employees, slowly growing its grounds care services. Nationally, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government had initiated its austerity programme in 2010 to realise huge public spending reductions, resulting in rising unemployment and cuts to local funding across England.

Public spending reductions where keenly felt in Oxford over the coming decade as anywhere else across England. In turn, Oxford City Council pulled a significant unrestricted annual grant to Aspire which amounted to approximately 50% of its total annual income, at a time where demand for employment support was increasing. While this funding cut was tapered over a three year period (2012-15) to reduce to zero, it presented an existential threat to Aspire. The message was clear; Aspire needed to adapt to survive or risk closure.

CEO Paul Roberts was appointed to the senior leadership role at Aspire Oxford in 2013-14 following a period as a volunteer fundraiser and then business development manager. Over the coming decade, Roberts – with the support and guidance of the Aspire trustees and senior management team – led a strategic expansion of Aspire Oxfordshire’s activities and income generation.

By March 2022 Aspire’s income had increased to £2.87m, employing 73 people and greatly expanding its social impact, to support over 1,800 people a year across Oxfordshire and the wider Thames Valley through its charitable programmes.

The expansion went hand in hand with broadening Aspire’s delivery capability into new commissioned service areas, such as in public health, prison leaver rehabilitation, supporting young people and refugee integration. This ran alongside an enterprising and opportunistic approach to social enterprise trading and business development, that saw Aspire undertake everything from community transport to grounds care to inclusive recruitment services, and enabled Aspire to develop its supported housing offer.