Our history

GIVE EUR-HOPE was officially 'born' on the 10th December, which is the international day of human rights, of 2010, which was the European year of combating poverty and social exclusion.

However, the possibility to launch such an association to help the poor who are sometimes no more than a few meters from the Commission's buildings had already been envisaged as early as 2007.

Discussions had focussed then on bringing together all the good will and initiative of the EU Staff activities and actions taking place across EU Institutions and merging them into a common organisation to share our abilities, skills and financial support with those less fortunate, be it in Belgium or in our home countries across the EU.

For a few years the idea remained an idea … though many conversations took place and more and more people came to see the value of creating a formal organisation which would guarantee the transparency, follow-up and management of projects funded through fund gathering activities in the EU Institutions and membership fees of those wishing to join the organisation.

In late 2010 the hard work of creating the asbl began.  A core group met regularly and decided on the exact aims of the association, much hard work was done by the founding members on ensuring the Statutes were legally correct, on defining the types of projects which would be supported and agreeing on the various practical details of how we would work.

The founding members come from a variety of background - all sharing a common desire to help those in our society who find themselves in need.  The founding members come with the credibility of working with groups and organisations already well known and established, such as Cancer Support Group, Europe Third World, AST Network, Shoebox Campaign, Schuman Trophy, Afiliatys.

GIVE EUR-HOPE remains an 'infant', but together we are working to ensure that the association grows to maturity demonstrating the integrity, transparency and professionalism with which we are working, and of course the solidarity of EU staff with those most in need in our affluent society.