How One Volunteer Helped Unlock a Century-Old Charity’s Next Chapter

Every charity reaches a moment where good intentions need a business case behind them. For The Creighton Centre, that moment arrived with planning permission for a major building refurbishment already secured – but the financial story needed to convince trustees still undecided. Through Link UP London, the charity found a volunteer whose background in finance and dealmaking was exactly what the project required.

About the Organisation

Founded in 1908 and based in Hammersmith and Fulham, The Creighton Centre tackles social isolation through befriending, home safety support, and community activities for older people, adults with learning disabilities, and young families.

The Challenge

Having the right plans is one thing. Having a story that persuades a Trustee Board to commit is another entirely. The Creighton Centre had done the groundwork – architect plans, planning permission, agreed costings – but lacked the structured business case that could pull it all together and make the financial argument stick.

Specifically, the charity needed a needs analysis, a clear-eyed look at funding routes (including the possibility of selling other charity assets), and a roadmap that addressed an awkward practical question: how do you refurbish a building without shutting down the services running inside it? With a Trustee strategy day fast approaching, the clock was ticking.

The Skilled Volunteer

Enter Peter. Peter’s day job sits in leveraged finance and M&A, where he’s spent a number of years advising on, structuring and investing in Private Equity deals – the kind of work that demands a sharp eye for what makes a financial case credible. He brought that same scrutiny to The Creighton Centre, though the stakes here were measured in community impact rather than deal value.

Over the course of the project, Peter reviewed existing plans against actual service needs, built out a concise business case, and weighed in on the unglamorous but essential logistics of phasing construction around day-to-day operations. He also helped shape a clear, trustee-ready summary ahead of the strategy planning day.

Peter reflected: “I learned how transferrable my skills are and I feel that I’ve made a contribution to the community.”

The Impact

For an organisation weighing whether to draw down on its reserves, having a credible business case made all the difference.

Jamie put it plainly: “The work has enabled our Trustee Board to spend down on our reserve in order that we can upgrade our property asset to generate future revenue.”

That confidence now extends well beyond a single funding decision. The Creighton Centre can picture, in concrete terms, what comes next: a refurbished building that not only serves its community better but generates new revenue to support the charity for years to come.

In Jamie’s words: “Ultimately this will give us the confidence to refurbish our community centre so that we can provide an improved space for our community and in turn generate new revenue which will help to support our long term future. This project has enabled us to plan our future regeneration with confidence – thank you!”

Looking Forward

Armed with a solid business case, The Creighton Centre can now take its refurbishment plans into funding conversations with real confidence – a far stronger position than agreed costings and good intentions alone.

It’s a small piece of paperwork with a large purpose: keeping a 140-year-old building standing, accessible, and ready to serve the next generation of its community.

This project is a reminder that skilled volunteering doesn’t always look like hands-on building work – sometimes the most valuable contribution is the financial clarity that makes the building work possible in the first place.