Is AI a threat to charity finance jobs? What our research reveals
iplicit

Artificial intelligence has rapidly emerged as the next major technological disruption – one that promises to reshape how organisations operate. For charity, nonprofit and social purpose sector finance teams already navigating tight budgets and resource constraints, its arrival feels both inevitable and urgent.

But how are finance professionals in these sectors really feeling about AI? And should they be worried about their jobs?

We recently commissioned research surveying 250 UK-based mid-market finance leaders to understand their AI readiness, usage and concerns. What emerged was a picture of a profession caught between opportunity and anxiety – particularly in the charity, nonprofit and social purpose sectors.

The job threat perception

Over half (51%) of finance leaders we surveyed said AI is already a threat to entry-level finance jobs. But perhaps more striking, 52% believe AI could eventually threaten senior finance roles – including their own.

This concern was particularly pronounced in the charity, nonprofit and social purpose sectors (covering care, housing and education). 57% of respondents from these sectors said they believe AI could become a threat to senior roles, compared to just 41% in the tech sector.

Why the heightened concern? The data suggests that while AI adoption is happening across all sectors, charity finance teams are approaching it more cautiously. Only 27% of charity sector respondents said they’d fully adopted AI within their finance function, compared to almost half (48%) in the tech sector.

The majority (92%) of all finance leaders we surveyed admitted to some degree of personal or professional concern about adopting AI. Top worries included the need to learn new skills quickly to keep up (36%), the impact on professional reputations if AI makes mistakes (34%) and uncertainty about how it would change career paths (32%).

But for charity sector finance leaders specifically, there was an additional dimension: over a quarter (27%) cited ethical concerns about adopting AI in finance – 2.5 times higher than those in the tech sector (11%).

Why ethical concerns matter more

This shouldn’t surprise us. Charities exist to serve vulnerable communities and advance social good. The ethical implications of any technology adoption – particularly one as transformative as AI – naturally carry more weight.

But Ian McLintock, founder of Charity Excellence, raises an important point.

“Acquiring AI skills is important for charity finance professionals. Firstly, because AI won’t necessarily take your job, but others using it may end up overtaking you,” he says. “Also, the longer you waste not using it and getting used to it, scammers and bad actors are – and ignorance makes you vulnerable to its risks.”

His point is particularly relevant for the sector. While ethical caution is appropriate and important, falling too far behind on AI proficiency could leave charity finance teams more vulnerable, not less.

Fear decreases with familiarity

Encouragingly, our research revealed that as finance teams move from experimenting with AI to fully adopting it, job replacement fears decline significantly. 32% of those planning to adopt AI were concerned about their role being automated or reduced in scope, versus just 17% for those who have fully adopted it.

This suggests that much of the anxiety comes from not knowing – from imagining worst-case scenarios rather than experiencing the technology’s actual impact.

As Ian McLintock notes: “The same concerns about job losses were voiced when Excel first appeared. But in the end, all Excel did was take a lot of the burdensome admin out of finance roles and free people up to contribute in a much more valuable way.”

New roles, not just redundancies

The story isn’t purely one of threat. When we asked about new job creation, a more positive picture emerged. More than two-thirds (67%) of respondents said their company is creating new finance roles because of AI.

Across sectors, retail, hospitality, wholesale trade, distribution and manufacturing led at 78%, followed by software and technology at 75%. The nonprofit, charity and social purpose sectors came in at 65% – still a clear majority reporting new role creation.

Ian McLintock added: “AI will fundamentally change almost all roles – including replacing some junior roles where automated data entry makes up the majority of the job description. But it is also creating entirely new roles – within finance teams but also elsewhere within charity organisations, such as AI ethicists and Digital Empathy Officers.”

The skills that will matter

Looking ahead, finance leaders across all sectors were clear about how AI will reshape the profession. 45% believe there will be higher demand for AI governance and compliance oversight over the next five years. 44% anticipate an increased need for data analysis, technical and digital fluency, and 34% believe it will shift hiring priorities toward more tech-oriented finance roles.

When asked what skills would be most important to the next generation of finance hires, 41% said proficiency with AI and automation tools. This was followed by cybersecurity and data governance (39%) and data analysis and interpretation (34%). Tellingly, only 14% flagged traditional accounting skills as the most important.

The profile of future finance professionals is evolving, and what it means to be a finance professional will undoubtedly change over the coming years. Someone who can act as a data professor – turning numbers into science – will become equally sought after for future finance recruitment. Finance professionals will increasingly be tasked with translating accounting numbers into something that’s really valuable for the entire organisation.

A transformational timeline

Ian McLintock’s perspective offers reassurance for those feeling overwhelmed: “AI is already here, but we predict it will take until the end of the decade for work roles and culture to truly transform to enable us to fully exploit it. Key skills for the future will be working in unpredictable environments, genuine creativity and building sophisticated relationships with people. The ‘bean counters’ will have gone and been replaced by much more interesting and valuable roles. The future is bright for everyone ready to embrace it now.”

This timeline is important. While AI is already affecting finance work, wholesale transformation won’t happen overnight. Charity finance professionals have time to upskill, to experiment safely, and to understand how AI can genuinely help rather than hinder their work.

The Charity Excellence Framework recently launched a free online AI training programme in association with Microsoft, recognising that education and familiarity are key to reducing anxiety and building confidence.

Moving forward

The research reveals that charity finance professionals face a dual challenge: they must overcome heightened ethical concerns while also catching up on adoption rates compared with other sectors.

However, those who’ve fully adopted AI are less fearful about job replacement. Those using AI report time savings averaging five hours per week and new roles are being created.

It’s appropriate and necessary to weigh up ethical concerns around AI. But the technology is here, no one is going to uninvent it and ignoring it helps no one. The organisations and individuals that thrive will be those that approach AI with curiosity, invest in upskilling and find ways to harness the technology while staying true to their values.

Used wisely, AI can be an immensely powerful tool for the finance professional, freeing up time for the strategic and interpersonal work that only humans can do.

• To read more about how AI is impacting mid-market finance teams, download iplicit’s latest research report – AI in finance: is the mid-market ready? – here.