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NGOs and Social Enterprises · CSR implementation partners
HR for CSR Implementation Partners: Project Teams, Corporate Reporting and Contract Cycles
A CSR implementation partner delivers programmes on behalf of companies, with teams built for each project and answerable to corporate funders. Here is how to run them well.
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Share your requirementsA CSR implementation partner is an NGO, trust or specialist agency that designs and delivers programmes on education, health, skills, environment or livelihoods for companies meeting their corporate social responsibility commitments. It may run several projects at once for different companies, each with its own budget, geography, timelines and reporting format. A typical team includes a head or business lead who manages corporate relationships, project managers, field coordinators and officers, monitoring and reporting staff, and finance staff who account for each project's money separately. Staff are often hired for a specific project, and their cost is charged to that project. Corporate funders visit sites, ask for presentations and expect polished reports, which add work on top of field delivery. See also HR for NGOs and social enterprises.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in csr implementation partners, you may see
- Staff are bound to a single project
- Several funders, several formats
- Costs are charged back unevenly
- Corporate staff change often
- Quality varies between projects
- Funders expect speed from the start
- Business leads are overloaded
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in csr implementation partners
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- Business development and relationship leads
- Project managers
- Field coordinators and officers
- Monitoring, evaluation and reporting staff
- Finance staff per project
- Communications and documentation staff
- Technical specialists for each theme
- Head of the organisation
Where HR strains in csr implementation partners
Staff are bound to a single project
When a project ends or a company withdraws, the team has no other place in the organisation and people leave or are let go together.
Several funders, several formats
Each company wants its own report, visit and presentation, and project managers spend large parts of the month on corporate demands.
Costs are charged back unevenly
Shared staff time and overheads are split across projects without a clear method, and funders question the charges.
Corporate staff change often
A funder's CSR head moves on, priorities shift and the partner's team must rebuild trust and rework plans.
Quality varies between projects
A project with an experienced manager runs well, while another with a new manager lags, and the head has little visibility.
Funders expect speed from the start
A project is awarded and expected to begin in weeks, so recruitment is rushed and some posts are filled with whoever is available.
Business leads are overloaded
The person who brings in funders also oversees delivery and handles escalations, and the organisation depends on that one person.
HR topics for csr implementation partners
Start with the topics that matter most here: HR Strategy and Workforce Planning; Recruitment and Talent Acquisition; HR Analytics and Management Reporting. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for ngos and social enterprises, not in general.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a csr implementation partners business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Plan the team across projects
A view of every project's staffing, when each ends and where people could move next.
What this coversHide
Plan the team across projects
A view of every project's staffing, when each ends and where people could move next.
What this coversHideA view of every project's staffing, when each ends and where people could move next. The HR strategy and workforce planning work builds it.
Create a standard project start
A hiring and induction pack that can be used for any new project, so a team is in place within weeks.
What this coversHide
Create a standard project start
A hiring and induction pack that can be used for any new project, so a team is in place within weeks.
What this coversHideA hiring and induction pack that can be used for any new project, so a team is in place within weeks. The recruitment process and onboarding work provide this.
Standardise reporting
A core report that serves most funders, with a short add-on for specific requests, to reduce rework.
What this coversHide
Standardise reporting
A core report that serves most funders, with a short add-on for specific requests, to reduce rework.
What this coversHideA core report that serves most funders, with a short add-on for specific requests, to reduce rework. The HR reporting and analytics work helps.
Allocate shared costs by a stated method
A written approach for how staff time and overheads are charged across projects, reviewed with funders where needed.
What this coversHide
Allocate shared costs by a stated method
A written approach for how staff time and overheads are charged across projects, reviewed with funders where needed.
What this coversHideA written approach for how staff time and overheads are charged across projects, reviewed with funders where needed. Confirm the treatment with a qualified professional.
Review project managers regularly
A monthly check on each project's progress, risks and team morale, with support for new managers.
What this coversHide
Review project managers regularly
A monthly check on each project's progress, risks and team morale, with support for new managers.
What this coversHideA monthly check on each project's progress, risks and team morale, with support for new managers. The performance management process provides the routine.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- List each project, its end date and the people whose work depends on it.
- Count the reports and presentations a project manager produced last quarter.
- Ask how shared staff costs were divided last year and whether you could explain it to a funder.
- Check how long it took from award to a full team on the last two projects.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- HR strategy and workforce planning
A cross-project staffing view so people can move when one project ends and another begins.
- Recruitment process
A repeatable process for building a team within weeks of an award.
- Performance management process
A monthly review rhythm that shows how each project and manager is doing.
- HR reporting and analytics
People and project data prepared once and used for several funder reports.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in ngos and social enterprises, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Management
"We need two more people": the headcount plan nobody wrote
Hiring decisions made one request at a time, in the month the pain is worst. What a workforce plan contains and why a twelve-month view changes what you hire.
7 min readRead article
HR Process
Why new hires don't turn up on day one, and what to do between offer and joining
Candidates who accept and never arrive are usually lost in the silence between offer and joining. What actually causes it, and a contact plan that closes the gap.
8 min readRead article
HR Process
The 6 HR reports a founder should get every month without asking
Six numbers, one page, same format each month. What they are, how to define them so they mean the same thing twice, and what each one tells you.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Plan early by looking for roles on other projects and being open with the team about timelines. Confirm contract and notice obligations for fixed-term staff with a qualified professional.
Build one core report from shared data and add short funder-specific pages. This saves time and reduces errors.
Use a written method, such as time records or an agreed ratio, apply it consistently and be ready to explain it. Confirm the correct treatment with a qualified professional.
Keep standard role descriptions, a ready shortlist of past candidates and a short induction pack. Speed comes from preparation done before the award.
Introduce funders to a second person, document key relationships and let project managers present their own work to corporate visitors.
We would ask how teams are planned across projects, what a standard project start looks like, and how reporting differs between funders. We would also hear how shared costs are divided and how much rests on your business lead. A useful first piece of work is a standard project start with one reporting format. After that, we write up the proposed scope and fees for your agreement.
More on HR for ngos and social enterprises
All 7 business types in ngos and social enterprises · Find another business type
Grant-making foundationsLivelihood and skilling programmesHealth and nutrition NGOsChurches and faith-based organisationsCommunity development organisationsSocial enterprises and cooperativesHR Strategy and Workforce Planning in ngos and social enterprisesRecruitment and Talent Acquisition in ngos and social enterprisesHR Analytics and Management Reporting in ngos and social enterprises
See all HR topics for ngos and social enterprises, or another industry.