Recruitment for Charities and NGO's
The work is too important to get the hire wrong.
You do not need to be told that a bad appointment in public affairs, policy or campaigns costs more than the salary. You have seen what happens when a Head of Public Affairs cannot hold a position under scrutiny, when a campaigns lead understands strategy but cannot deliver, when a policy specialist thinks in documents but not in relationships.
The issues your organisation works on are real and the people you appoint to influence them need to be exceptional. Not adequate. Not almost right. Exceptional.
That is a harder brief to fill than most recruitment processes are designed to handle.
The hiring problem charities know too well
Charities are not short of applicants. They are short of the right ones.
The pool of candidates who can genuinely operate across policy, public affairs and campaigns, who understand both the detail of a consultation response and the dynamics of a parliamentary debate, who can run a campaign and brief a minister in the same week, is considerably smaller than most hiring managers expect.
What fills the gap instead:
- Strong communicators with limited policy depth, who are credible in press but not in a select committee
- Policy specialists who cannot engage externally with confidence, who produce excellent briefings but struggle to represent the organisation in public
- Public affairs professionals who have never run a campaign, and who discover on the job that advocacy without delivery is not enough
- Candidates from political backgrounds who struggle with the pace and structure of organisational life, where the skills that work in Westminster do not always transfer At manager and director level, none of these is good enough. The work demands people who can do all of it, and who chose the charity sector because the cause matters to them, not because it was available.
Finding that person through a job advertisement is optimistic. Finding them through a network built inside the sector is how it actually works.
What these roles actually require
Senior public affairs, policy and campaigns professionals in charities operate in a way that has no real equivalent in the private sector. They must influence without power, persuade without budget, and deliver results in political environments that are rarely cooperative and often hostile.
The strongest candidates combine:
- A genuine understanding of policy and how to shape it, not just how to respond to it
- The ability to engage credibly across government, parliament and civil society
- Experience running campaigns that move public and political opinion
- The organisational capability to deliver within a structured, mission-led environment
- A personal commitment to the cause that goes beyond professional competence That last point is not incidental. Charities are not just employers. They are communities of people who believe in something. The wrong hire, capable but uncommitted, disrupts that in ways that take time to repair.
Case study: Head of Campaigns and Policy: healthcare charity
A healthcare charity required a new Head of Campaigns at short notice following a sudden departure, during an active and important bill going through parliament. The candidate needed to be an experienced manager, credible with media, and capable of picking up complex campaign work immediately without a lengthy handover period.
The standard approach, searching among candidates in permanent roles — would not work. Notice periods would have meant the role sat vacant through the bill's most critical stages.
Instead the search focused specifically on experienced freelancers and contractors with the right track record: people who were used to entering organisations at pace, picking up complex briefs quickly, and delivering results without the support structures that permanent staff rely on.
The appointment was made in time. The candidate contributed directly to the charity's campaign during the bill's passage through parliament.
The roles we recruit
We support charities across a focused range of appointments:
- Public Affairs Managers and Directors
- Policy and Public Affairs leads
- Campaigns and Advocacy Managers
- Heads of Public Affairs, Policy or Campaigns
- Senior roles spanning all three disciplines
These are the positions where strategic judgement and delivery capability are equally essential, and where the difference between the right person and the wrong one is felt across the entire organisation.
The candidates we reach
Our network includes professionals working across charities and NGOs, political roles — parliament, parties, government and campaigns, and public affairs agencies with strong policy and advocacy practices.
Many are not actively seeking a new role. But many are open to the right opportunity, one that offers genuine impact, clear progression, and work on issues that matter to them personally.
Reaching them requires understanding what motivates them, not just what they have done. That is a conversation that requires sector knowledge, not a job specification.
What clients say
"Joseph was able to provide high calibre candidates at very short notice. He stayed in close contact throughout the process, and was always helpful."
Mark: Head of Public Affairs, National Charity
"Joseph clearly knows his stuff, both recruitment and the areas to which he is recruiting, and was a great help throughout."
Drew: Head of Campaigns and Policy, Cancer Charity
Why charities work with Westminster Search
Charities come to us when they have learned, often the hard way, that standard recruitment processes do not reliably produce the right candidate for these roles.
We are most useful when:
- The role spans policy, public affairs and campaigns, and a specialist in only one will not do
- Previous processes have delivered volume but not quality
- The organisation needs access to candidates who are not actively applying
- The hiring manager needs support assessing candidates from very different backgrounds against the same brief
We will not send you a long list of people who broadly fit. We will send you the people who can actually do this work, and who want to.
Talk to Joseph about your search
If you are hiring within a charity and need professionals who can operate across public affairs, policy and campaigns with both capability and commitment, the most useful first step is a direct conversation about what the role genuinely demands.