Building a Charity with a CEO’s Mindset

By ACC Finance Team
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This week, I sat down with Peter Charalambides, CEO of The Upper Room and former Property CEO, for a conversation on how to run a powerful charity with a business mindset.

Some of my favourite moments from our chat include:

✅ What Peter learned from starting-up a business and how that shapes his charity leadership today.
✅ Why charities must diversify income streams and the impact of local community.
✅ Financial lessons from the business world on cash flow, benchmarking salaries, and tech that Peter took to the third sector.
✅ How Peter uses mindfulness (and a beard net) to help out with The Upper Room’s meal service.
✅ And his call to action for younger donors, and those who can help reach them.

If you’re leading a purpose-driven business or want to hear what financial leadership looks like in the charity sector, this one’s for you.

Big thanks to Peter for being generous with his story, and for the Doctor Who name drop too 👀

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ACC Finance Team

ACC Finance are a team of experienced CFOs and management accountants who combine executive financial leadership with practical commercial judgement to work closely with founders and leadership teams to strengthen margins, improve cash flow, and guide critical financial decisions.
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