About



Experienced small charity finance folk

 

Who are we?


Dedicated change makers, finance is our superpower



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History


Embrace Finance was established in 2018 to provide small charities with good, affordable, stress free support to build their long-term financial resilience. Since then, we have worked with 100s of social leaders every year, supporting them through growth, stability and difficulty. We work with sector leading bodies such as NCVO and Getting on Board, a range of funders such as the School for Social Entrepreneurs, The Fore Trust and Lloyds Bank Foundation, and we work directly with many, many smaller charities and social enterprises. 

We recognise that the biggest barrier to confident financial decision taking is not just technical, it is also attitudinal. Leaders often tell us that they find finance difficult, anxiety provoking, boring. We get it. Charity finance is heavily regulated and our ecosystem has made it very, very difficult to build financial sustainability. 

Everything we do at Embrace Finance is focused on supporting you to navigate financial opportunity, uncertainty and difficulty with confidence. We adopt a mentoring approach in all our work. We meet you where you are. We take time to explain. We never judge. And we make it a positive, empowering experience. 

If you would like to build your financial confidence, please contact us. 
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A few years ago you supported me with financial mentoring and I knew at the time that it revolutionised the way I view finance. It has helped GYROS hugely.


We have since grown and developed and its taken a while to bed a few things in but we continue to evolve this essential activity.


Thank you, thank you, thank you for inspiring us about finance – and giving us practical tips and tools to constantly improve.

Louise Humphries

CEO, GYROS


Team



Liz Pepler MIAB FRSA (she/her)

Founder Director


Liz is a charity resilience specialist, founder of Embrace Finance and co-founder of the Small Charity Friendly Collective.


She is an experienced committee chair, treasurer, trustee and finance director and specialises in smaller charities with an annual income up to £1m.


Liz is co-author of Lloyds Bank Foundation’s Organisational Resilience framework which supports organisations to build long-term resilience in times of uncertainty and co-author of the Association of Chair's Financial Leadership in Small Charities.


Liz is a practicing member at the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers, and holds a Masters in Charity Accounting and Financial Management (Dist) and a PG Certificate in Charity Administration. Liz is a fellow of the RSA.


Rachel Cooper FCA (she/her)

Associate Director


Director of Welbeck, an established accountancy and financial management practice providing services to the third sector. Rachel and Liz are often collaborating on finance projects for charities. 


Rachel is a qualified chartered accountant and member of the ICAEW and professional trainer. After qualifying, Rachel spent 12 years in senior roles within charities ranging from the British Tinnitus Association, to the Institute of Cancer Research. 


Rachel has over 20 years’ experience supporting a variety of social impact organisations from small charities to major research institutions. Key projects Rachel has worked on include developing and leading Charity Finance Group’s small charities training programme and writing NCVO’s Financial Management website resources. 


Rachel is finance trainer for the Association of Independent Examiners and finance mentor for the School of Social Entrepreneurs.



Advisory Board




We are enormously fortunate to have the support of five amazing small charity and CIC leaders who really know the challenges of delivering social impact whilst facing all the challenges that we know to exist.


Our advisory board helps us think through our support for small organisations to make sure that what we offer is as useful and current as possible. In 2024, it will meet 3 times to consider what small organisations need in terms of finance support, what we do well and what we could do better. We will share updates in our newsletters.



Jo Ashbridge | Founder & CEO

AzuKo

www.azuko.org


Sabir Bham | Founder & CEO

Salaam Peace

www.salaampeace.org


Jo Davies | CEO

The Wild Young Parents Project

www.wildproject.org.uk


David Grant Roberts | Director

Yorkshire's Brain Tumour Charity

www.yorksbtc.org.uk


Rose McGowan | Director

Fresh Horizons

www.freshhorizonscnb.org

Amsel Page von Spreckelsen (they/them)

Associate  

Amsel is a freelance finance and governance consultant with 15 years experience in the charity sector. Amsel provides specialist trouble shooting support.

They have spent most of their career working across all aspects of the finance department, before specialising in management accounting. They have worked across arts, LGBTQ+, disability and youth charities, public sector (NHS) and international development. 

They work as BCF Consulting now, providing a mix of strategic and technical support to a range of clients. Specialities include deep-dive analysis of financial data, support on budgets and forecasts, and systems building, as well as problem fixing and advice. 

Alongside finance, Amsel can support on governance and trusteeship, supporting boards to understand their role and senior teams to get to grips with the specifics of charity leadership responsibilities.

They have a CIMA Diploma in Management Accounting (Level 4).

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