In this article, originally published on LinkedIn, Pesh Framjee outlines how the role of finance leaders has evolved. Pesh describes how the hardening operating environment has led to finance leaders walking a tightrope, but that there is now an exciting opportunity to play a transformational role within their organisations.
Those of us involved with finance in charities and other civil society organisations (CSOs) know that the environment we operate in today is not just incrementally harder - it’s fundamentally different. We are navigating a tougher external climate marked by economic uncertainty, geopolitical instability, constrained funding, increased regulatory demands, and heightened public scrutiny. Yet, the biggest shifts are not just external. They’re internal, structural and cultural.
The role of finance leaders has evolved. We are no longer just stewards of financial prudence. We are system leaders, culture carriers, and strategic partners in shaping the future of our organisations. Surviving and thriving in this modern context requires what I often refer to as both “hardware and software” changes: the technical systems, tools, and structures we rely on, and the cultural mindsets, behaviours, and collaborations that define how we lead.
The hardening operating environment
The challenges facing CSOs are layered and persistent:
- Funding is more restricted and less secure: Funders are narrowing their focus, preferring to support existing grantees and, in some cases, freezing new grantmaking altogether. Unrestricted income, the lifeblood of innovation and resilience, is increasingly scarce.
- Donors and governments are becoming more prescriptive: There’s a noticeable shift from trust based to control based funding relationships. Outputs are measured more narrowly, and risk tolerance is declining.
- Rising regulatory and reputational risk: CSOs face more rules with less margin for error. For charities operating internationally, there are real concerns about the closing down of space for civil society.
- Growing complexity: Whether it’s managing international operations, adopting digital platforms, or navigating multi year partnerships, the operating model of today’s charity is increasingly complex. I have, over the years, said that the charity finance professional faces all the challenges of the private sector and more – this is more evident now.
- Unrelenting demand and shrinking resource: We are having to do more with fewer resources and higher expectations. Importantly, all of this is taking place against a backdrop of conflicts, climate instability, populist politics. Global uncertainty affects donor priorities and public sentiment.
This is not a moment of turbulence we can wait out. It is the new normal.
A tight rope walk
Finance leaders in CSOs are walking a tightrope between competing and often conflicting demands. There are pressures that we need to deliver against and also constraints that we need to factor in.
- Strategic agility vs. financial discipline - The pressure: Act fast, innovate, pivot when needed. The constraint: ...while safeguarding reserves, hitting compliance targets, and ensuring long term sustainability .Walking the tightrope means enabling risk, not just mitigating it.
- Cost efficiency vs. mission delivery - The pressure: Keep overheads low, streamline operations, deliver value for money. The constraint: ...without underinvesting in talent, infrastructure, or the support systems that actually sustain impact. Efficiency without effectiveness is just erosion.
- Accountability / Stewardship vs. empowerment - The pressure: Protect the charity’s assets, reputation, and regulatory standing. The constraint: ...while empowering programme leads and fundraisers to make bold, responsive decisions close to the front line. Finance leaders must shift from control to enablement without losing accountability.
- Transparency vs. simplicity - The pressure: Be open, detailed, and accountable in reporting. The constraint: ...while avoiding data overload and keeping insight accessible to non-finance stakeholders. Transparency doesn’t mean publishing a 400-row spreadsheet - it means clarity.
- Rational analysis vs. emotional intelligence - The pressure: Focus on evidence, forecasts, and financial facts. The constraint: ...while also holding space for uncertainty, grief, burnout, and the human reality of charity work. Numbers matter, but so does nuance.
- Internal stability vs. external volatility - The pressure: Keep operations and planning steady and predictable. The constraint: ...while funder behaviour, government policy, and global events shift rapidly. We must design systems that are stable but not static.
The tightrope is long and it sways – it isn’t just about balance it’s about knowing when to lean in, when to adapt, and when to pause. The margin for error is narrower than ever.
This means we have to:
- Shift from prediction to preparedness: Planning today isn’t about guessing right it’s about building flexibility into systems so you’re ready when things shift.
- Plan in loops, not lines: Traditional linear planning is too rigid. Think in cycles: short sprints, frequent review points, and built in course corrections.
- Focus on directional clarity, not fixed destinations: Don’t need a map with every detail you need a compass. Set clear principles, then allow strategy to adapt.
- Surface what’s most vulnerable: Ask - where are we least resilient? Where are our assumptions most fragile? Planning starts with understanding pressure points.
- Build in optionality: Create room to pause, pivot, or scale - in staffing, partnerships, and investments. It’s easier to redirect than to restart.
- Invest in adaptive capacity: Capacity planning now includes time for learning, digital infrastructure, psychological safety, and space for experimentation
- Plan with others, not alone: Co-create plans with colleagues and partners - their insight makes the plan more robust, and their buy-in makes it work
The changed role of the CSO leader
All of this points to a new profile of leadership in CSO's. In particular, the finance leader of today, and tomorrow, must possess:
- Strategic foresight: seeing around corners and helping the organisation navigate ambiguity.
- Cross-functional fluency: understanding not just finance, but digital, HR, fundraising, and programme delivery.
- Emotional intelligence: building trust, managing conflict, and influencing beyond formal authority.
- Systems thinking: recognising the interdependencies within and beyond the organisation.
- Courageous stewardship: knowing when to say “no,” when to back experimentation, and when to challenge the status quo.
This isn’t just about being good with numbers. It’s about being a translator between the tangible and the intangible, betwen risk and purpose, between cost and value, between what is and what could be.
In a world that rewards agility, empathy, and courage, the role of the finance leader is no longer behind the scenes. It is at the heart of organisational transformation. Surely, that is exciting.
An invitation
This moment requires a collective response. We cannot afford to optimise within silos while the system around us becomes unviable. We must rise together - not just as individual organisations, but as a sector.
That means sharing what works, and what doesn’t. Speaking honestly about challenges such as burnout, barriers, and blind spots. We must support each other in unlearning outdated assumptions so that we can cocreate solutions that transcend institutional boundaries.
Our greatest risks now lie not in external threats but in internal inertia. The enemy is not volatility - it is rigidity.
From weathering to building
We often talk about “weathering the storm.” But, storms are no longer temporary. The climate has changed - literally and figuratively. We cannot simply batten down the hatches and wait for calm seas. We must build different boats.
That means: -
- Harder edges: robust systems, modern tools, and strategic discipline.
- Softer skills: adaptive leadership, open collaboration, and cultural change.
My Maasai friends have a saying: “When you have to travel fast, travel alone - When you have to travel far, travel together”
We have to travel both fast and far - Some things you will do alone - Some things we will do together.