When I founded Beyond Profit, it wasn’t about scaling fast or chasing the usual business milestones – it was about solving a problem I had seen firsthand during 15 years in the charity sector: that charity finance is not just another specialism. It’s a discipline with its own rhythm, risks and quirks. I built Beyond Profit to meet the real-world needs of small to mid-sized charities who couldn’t afford an internal finance team but still needed one.
In the early days, the vision was simple: offer expert financial and governance support that actually helps charities thrive. I worked school hours. I had no staff. And that was intentional.
But then came the pressure. Social media made it feel like everyone was scaling, hiring, and hitting huge revenue targets. Friends, peers – even clients – kept saying, “There’s such a need for what you do, you should grow.” Eventually I set a goal: £500,000 in revenue by the time I turned 50.
We grew. I hired three new roles. We took on larger, more complex charities. But the more we grew, the further we drifted from our roots. The team struggled to keep up. Clients needed more than we had the capacity to deliver. I was back to working weekends and logging on at 5am. Stress became the norm. And then a key team member resigned.
That weekend, everything came crashing down. I realised the business no longer looked like the one I’d set out to build. It wasn’t working for me, for my team, or – frankly – for the clients the way I intended.
That moment was my reset.
I stepped back and made a decision: Beyond Profit didn’t need to get bigger. It needed to get better – and truer to what it was meant to be. I refocused on working with fewer clients, delivering more value, and launching scalable training and resources to meet the wider need without the overwhelm.
Now, my measure of success is different. It’s not revenue. It’s balance. It’s impact. It’s earning enough to live the life I want while doing the work I love, without burning out.
Similarly charities are constantly encouraged to grow – reach more people, raise more money, expand programmes. But growth comes at a cost. It can stretch teams, compromise values, and lead to mission drift.
What I’ve learned is this: sticking to your purpose and doing a few things really well can be more impactful than doing everything for everyone.
At Beyond Profit, we’re now choosing focus. We work with fewer charities, but we work more deeply. We’re also creating training and tools that charities can access anytime—without exhausting ourselves.
That’s the message I want every charity leader to hear: it’s okay not to grow. It’s okay to be small, strong, and sustainable.
So if you’re feeling the pressure to scale, ask yourself:
- Why did we start?
- Who are we growing for?
- And what’s the true cost?
Because no level of growth is worth sacrificing your wellbeing, your joy, or the reason you started in the first place.
