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Fractional HR Support for Non-Profits

HR Business Partner

Fractional HR Business Partner for Small Businesses

Senior HR expertise and hands-on support for mission-driven small businesses, without a full-time HR hire.

Get the free guide: Six Signs Your People Strategy Is Working
Take the 4-minute HR capacity assessment

HR Business Partner

Fractional HR for Small Businesses

Senior HR expertise, on-call support, project execution, and fractional HR SMEs on demand for small businesses

Get the free guide: Six Signs Your People Strategy Is Working
Take the 4-minute HR Capacity Assessment

Is a fractional HR Business Partner right for your company?

Growing businesses typically reach a point where HR needs senior strategic leadership, but a full-time HR Director is not yet in the budget. Sometimes that means the CEO, COO, or CFO is managing HR in addition to their core job. Sometimes there is a capable HR or operations person doing the day-to-day work but not positioned to advise leadership or connect people strategy to business goals. You know the people side needs more attention at the leadership level. That is the gap a fractional HR Business Partner from BFM fills .

This might be for you if:

  • You or your operations manager is handling HR between everything else
  • You’re growing past the point where informal works, and you need real policies
  • You’re competing for talent against companies with bigger budgets and HR departments
  • You need additional capacity to prepare for a fast growing team” or something like that
  • You’re juggling payroll, benefits, and PEO vendors with no one owning the relationship
  • A people problem has already cost you time, money, or a good employee
Download the HR Business Partner One-Pager

What does a fractional HR Business Partner do?

Project Execution

We don’t just advise — we make it happen. From coaching to implementation, we act as your HR hands and feet, moving work forward with purpose.

People Strategy

As your outsourced CHRO, we will create a people strategy to connect daily questions and urgent needs to a cohesive people strategy — ensuring the most important things get done to drive business results.

Organizational Insight

We use tools like engagement surveys, compensation audits, and customized diagnostics to surface actionable insights to keep your team engaged. We regularly check in to confirm you’re aligned with the direction we’re heading.

Systems + Learning

We design and build the HR systems you need, and we strengthen your team’s ability to use them. It’s consulting plus capacity building.

Cost-Effective Expertise

Get executive-level HR support at a fraction of the cost of full-time employees or traditional consulting — without sacrificing quality.

Integrated Capacity

You get access to a full team with broad experience: coaching and training, systems and strategy, and recruitment for key positions.

Tailored + Trustworthy

We’re not outsiders — we integrate into your team, build trust, and handle complex, sensitive situations with care.

Strategic Collaboration

Our integrated approach enables faster, more strategic collaboration by staying closely aligned with your leadership and HR teams. We streamline challenges and ensure decisions are rooted in your goals for growth, equity, and sustainability.

What you get with  BFM as your HR Business Partner

  • A people strategy: a clear plan with practical steps to put it into action.
  • Support through leadership transitions: onboarding and role clarity
  • HR practices that work: hiring, performance management, and retention
  • Aligned teams: communication, collaboration, and shared purpose
  • Leaders ready for complexity: one or more fractional HR leaders based on your needs to provide coaching and thought partnership
  • The right HR tools and systems: processes that support growth
  • Sustainable talent systems: succession planning and long-term resilience
BFM fractional HR Business Partner facilitating a working session with a nonprofit team
Benefits of an HR Business Partner

How can fractional HR increase our organization’s capacity? 

Take our 5-minute HR Capacity Assessment. There are no right or wrong answers. You’ll get a short summary of what your answers suggest would be the best growth opportunity and an option to talk it through with our team.

How many employees are on your team?
How would you describe the current state of staffing and hiring at your organization?

How established is each of these in your organization?

Every question below uses the same four options:

  • Not in place: We don’t have this, or it happens informally
  • Getting started: Something exists, but it’s new, patchy, or inconsistent
  • In place, needs work: It works, but it’s outdated, uneven, or not fully used
  • Working well: It’s established, consistent, and meets our needs
Onboarding: A structured experience that gets new hires up to speed
Job descriptions and role clarity: Accurate, current descriptions and clear responsibilities
Compensation and pay equity: Salary bands, market benchmarking, and internal equity
Policies and handbook: Up to date with current employment law
HR administration and legal compliance: Record keeping, required filings, a clear owner for legal questions and risk
Learning and development: Training, career paths, and growth opportunities
Performance Management: Goal setting, feedback, and review templates that managers use
Org Culture: Values-aligned culture with systems and practice that strengthen the employee experience
Team Engagement: Practices and systems that keep your team members connected and collaborative
Change Management: Planning roles and staffing ahead of major changes like growth, funding shifts, or restructuring
HR’s Role in Strategy: HR goals connected to organizational strategy and leadership decisions
HR systems and technology: Tools for payroll, records, recruiting, learning, and performance, rather than spreadsheets or paper
Name
BFM Facilitates Decision Making for Organization

How Does a HR Business Partner Engagement Work? 

Step 1
Discovery call.

A conversation about your company, what’s urgent, and what you want to build.

Step 2
Assessment and priorities.

We review your people practices, systems, and goals through assessments and structured conversations, then agree on priorities together.

Step 3
Ongoing partnership

Regular check-ins, real-time thought partnership when issues come up, and hands-on execution of priority projects.

Step 4
Regular review

We revisit priorities on a set schedule and adjust as your organization changes.

Trusted by High-Performing Leaders

Small Business in Finance

An investment firm partnered with Building for Mission to strengthen team effectiveness and alignment as it scaled. The firm recently hired several new team members and needed a stronger talent infrastructure to support the growing team. The firm sought working norms and structures that would support consistent execution and collaboration across the team. 

Over more than six months, BFM worked alongside the firm to develop a shared way of working, with a focus on faster onboarding for new team members, stronger deal team execution, clearer decisions, and greater accountability. BFM facilitated team sessions to build a common language for how colleagues work and communicate, coached members of the executive team to develop as leaders, and provided HR consultation to the firm’s Operations lead through 1:1 coaching. To ensure long-term integration BFM developed a plan to embed these practices in daily operations. 

The firm ended up with a more aligned team and practical standards to carry forward as it grows

“Through this work we developed the tools for self-assessment and better appreciation for our surrounding team.”

Frequently Asked Questions about Fractional HR Business Partners

When does a small business need HR support?

Common signs include a c-suite leader handling HR on top of their role, growth or restructuring, rising turnover, or policies that haven’t kept up with your size. It’s also a strong fit if you have an HR generalist who needs senior-level backup.

Is fractional HR cheaper than hiring a full-time HR manager?

es, for most businesses under a few hundred employees. A full-time HR manager is a salary plus benefits and one person’s experience. Fractional support costs a fraction of that and gives you a team with broader expertise (such as employee relations, recruitment, workforce planning, compensation, HR Systems, etc), which matters when the question in front of you is outside any one person’s background.

Do you work with PEOs?

Yes. Plenty of our clients use a PEO for payroll and benefits. We handle the strategic side a PEO doesn’t cover, and we manage that relationship so you’re not the one chasing it.

Can you work alongside our existing HR staff?

Yes. Many of our clients already have an HR generalist or operations lead. We act as their strategic partner and backup, adding senior expertise and capacity rather than replacing anyone

Can you help us prepare for growth?

That’s a lot of what we do. We help you build the structure before you need it: role clarity, hiring processes, compensation bands, and the policies that new requirements trigger as your headcount grows.

How much does a fractional HR Business Partner cost?

BFM’s HR Business Partner engagements start at $1,950 per month, with a three-month minimum. Pricing depends on your organization’s size and the scope of support you need, and we’ll recommend the right level after a discovery call. 

Do you handle payroll and benefits administration?

We don’t run payroll directly. Instead, we oversee your HR vendor relationships, help you choose the right payroll, benefits, or PEO partners, and connect you with providers we trust, so your systems work together and you’re not managing them alone.

Curious about how a HR Business Partner would work for your Small Business? 

Let’s talk about how to develop a people strategy that drives revenue. 

Schedule a call
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