Action Planning’s specialist charity HR consultants provide not-for-profit clients with part-time or ad-hoc HR support to help deliver good people practice. We can manage the recruitment of senior personnel from start to finish and provide expert training, mentoring, coaching and personal development programmes across all the functions of a charitable organisation, from CEO to volunteers.

Our exclusive offers for ACEVO members

Free HR audit

We’ll review your contracts of employment and staff handbook (or any existing HR policies), assessing them against:

• Current UK employment legislation
• Sector best practice
• Clarity, tone and consistency
• Suitability for your charity’s structure and values

The audit takes up to 2 hours and is carried out by one of our experienced HR consultants – at no cost to you.

CEO profiling

An insightful online CEO psychometric profiling assessment, complete with a high-performance report tailored to you. This is followed by a 90-minute one-to-one coaching session, where you’ll explore your working style preferences, key strengths and areas for development.

You’ll leave with a clear understanding of how others perceive you, along with practical insights into how this shapes your working relationships and leadership impact.

Discounted price for ACEVO members £399 + VAT

Leadership challenge advisory session

Confidential, rapid-response support for charity CEOs facing sensitive leadership and people issues. When you’re dealing with complex HR situations and don’t know where to turn, this 45-minute session with Action Planning senior HR advisers can give you clarity, options and confidence to act. Because some leadership challenges can’t wait, and you shouldn’t face them alone.

Duration – 45 mins

Discounted price for ACEVO members £121.50 + Vat

Book an offer. Please have your ACEVO membership number to hand, ready to quote.

How Action Planning can support your HR function

• Employee contracts and handbook – ensuring your employees have a contract and you provide an up-to-date employee handbook.
• Sickness absence – supporting you in managing any sickness-related issues.
• Managing performance – enabling you to make sure your employees understand the expectations of their role and encourage and support them, even when they are not performing as they should be.
• Discipline and grievances – advising you how to put employees back on track when they go wrong.
• Change management – providing support when changes need to be made which affect your people.
• Staff and management development – equipping your managers and staff with the skills they need.
• Personality profiling – using the C-me psychometric tool.
• Employment law – keeping you up to date with changes in employment law and how you need to respond
• Personal development – delivering a menu of training courses on topics such as line management, EDI and delegation
• Investigation service – undertaking grievance and disciplinary investigations to provide an impartial external perspective 

How Action Planning adds value to your recruitment process 

• We are a full-service agency providing direct services to charities, so we really understand what is required in a job, because we are working with people doing those jobs every day 
• We have lots of live contacts, including significant leaders in the sector, and know their strengths and weaknesses. They are much more than just names on a database 
• We are deeply integrated in the sector, having worked in it for over 30 years, so people trust us and know that our heart is in the right place 
• Our monthly e-newsletter goes out to over 13,000 not-for-profit sector practitioners and links to the specialist jobs board on our website 
• Our candidate guarantee is effective from the moment we start the assignment

Coaching and mentoring 

We’ll help you meet your challenges and get the best from yourself. We can provide you with a highly experienced coach or mentor to help you through a specific challenge or more generally to develop in your role. Our coaches will challenge you to excel using your own resources, whereas a mentor will work with you to find the right way forward. We have particular experience of working with senior management and trustees, developing inspiring leaders who make a tangible difference. 

What you can expect from Action Planning  coaching and mentoring: 

• Highly experienced coaches and mentors 
• A meeting beforehand to establish a positive relationship 
• Empathy, sensitivity and confidentiality 
• Flexibility of time, place and structure 
• Regular reviews and evaluation 

Trustee training 

Board training and development are crucial for organisations to run at maximum efficiency, and yet we recognise that because of tight resources and limited time, cost-effective and efficient training delivery is essential. Our approach is therefore tailored to meet the very specific needs of each of our clients. 

The benefits of our trustee training  include: 

• Cost-effective, tailored to suit your organisation 
• Any number of participants 
• Location to suit you and your people 
• We really get to know your organisation so we provide the input you need, rather than bland, off-the-shelf content 
• Our broad skills base means we can address wider issues beyond pure governance, including organisational strategy, fundraising and marketing 

Staff training 

High-quality training is always a good investment, enabling staff to fulfil their potential and deliver more for your organisation. Our workshops and courses provide a solid and practical grounding that quickly gets you or your managers up to speed on the key employee issues. All of our trainers have a background in the not-for-profit sector as managers and leaders and know the challenges staff face on a day-to-day basis. 

What you can expect from Action Planning  staff training: 

• Qualified, experienced trainers 
• First-hand knowledge of the charity sector 
• Can be delivered in person or online 

“When you’re taking a step into the fundraising unknown, I would recommend using Action Planning to sense check that you’re recruiting what it is that you actually need.” Jon Haward, Chief Executive, Ronald Mcdonald House Charities

Case study: Helping to define and fill a key role

“What we needed across the board was a consistent approach to managing direct reports and Action Planning’s Introduction to Line Management Programme has really helped with that.”Alison Fuller, Senior People Team Officer, ShareAction

Case study: Helping to instil consistency at management level

Associate insights

A selection of thought leadership articles from Action Planning consultants:

• How to handle flexible working requests
• Charity boards that are short on women are missing out
• Navigating strategic change: striking the balance in nonprofit organisations
• The lonely HR: who’s looking after the person who looks after everyone else?
• How to help your people through the cost of living crisis

You can receive notifications of all our consultants’ insight articles, as well as our webinars and case studies, by following our LinkedIn page or subscribing to our monthly newsletter.

Action Planning’s full service comprises:

• Fundraising – sharpen your fundraising strategy and delivery, whatever you’re raising money for.
• Governance – ensure your organisation is being run in accordance with the Charity Governance Code and everybody is pulling together.
• Strategy – develop your organisation and ensure that you take your whole team with you on your future direction.
• People – find the best recruits for your organisation and get the best out of them.
• Communications – call in writers, designers, marketing consultants, customer experience and other communications specialists, as and when you need.