plainspoken.

Resources.

Practical governance documents and guides for small organisations. Buy what you need, when you need it.

Template packs

Template packs.

Governance documents drafted by us, ready to adapt to your organisation. Built around the Irish codes your board is actually held to - the Charities Governance Code and the Sport Ireland Governance Code.

Digital product

Board Essentials Starter Pack

The minimum viable governance pack. For new boards, small committees, and anyone tired of chaotic meetings.

Editable Word/Pages templates, a PDF guide, and a Google Sheets version of the action tracker. Delivered immediately by email as a zip after purchase.

What’s inside
  • Board meeting agenda template
  • Minutes template
  • Board action tracker
  • 12-month board calendar template (pre-structured)
  • One-page explainer: “What a board does vs what management does”
  • 6-page guide: “How to Run a Useful Board Meeting”
Digital product

Charity Governance Pack

The full governance toolkit, sized for Irish charities under €500k. Built around the Charities Governance Code.

Editable templates, pre-populated registers, and a PDF guide. Delivered immediately by email as a zip after purchase.

What’s inside

Everything in the Board Essentials Starter Pack, plus:

  • Conflicts of interest policy + register
  • Trustee code of conduct
  • Trustee role description template
  • Chair role description
  • Treasurer role description
  • Board induction checklist for new trustees
  • Risk register template (pre-populated with 20 common charity risks)
  • Annual board self-assessment tool (one-page checklist)
  • 12-page guide: “Charity Governance for Small Organisations in Ireland” - referencing the Charities Governance Code, Companies Act 2014 CLG requirements, and Charities Regulator expectations
Digital product

Sports Club Governance Pack

Built for volunteer committees of Irish sports clubs. Mapped to the Sport Ireland Governance Code.

Editable templates and a PDF guide. Delivered immediately by email as a zip after purchase.

What’s inside
  • Board/committee meeting agenda and minutes
  • Club constitution template (compliant with Sport Ireland Governance Code basics)
  • Code of conduct for committee members
  • Safeguarding policy template (referencing Sport Ireland Safeguarding Guidance)
  • Conflicts of interest policy
  • Treasurer’s checklist (annual cycle)
  • AGM template pack (notice, agenda, minutes, voting procedures)
  • 10-page guide: “Club Governance for Volunteer Committees”
Built for you

Compliant Websites.

The most effective organisational websites do more than communicate - they support enrolment, governance, compliance, accessibility, safeguarding, and reputation simultaneously. Plainspoken builds bespoke websites for schools, charities, and small businesses that meet the standards modern stakeholders and regulators expect, at prices that small organisations can actually justify.

A modern organisational website is strategic infrastructure, not marketing material. For schools, parents now research online before contacting, applying, or attending open days - a professional website shapes trust before any direct contact. For charities, funders and trustees check websites before responding to grant applications, and statutory disclosures are now expected by default. For small businesses, the website is the front door for every customer relationship. We design every website around what it actually needs to do.

  • First impressions and trust

    Parents, funders, and customers research online before they make contact. Your website shapes perception before any conversation starts.

  • Governance and statutory disclosure

    Charities, schools, and regulated organisations are increasingly expected to publish policies, governance structures, and statutory information. We build that architecture in from day one.

  • Accessibility, by default

    WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility built into every site. Compliance with the European Accessibility Act. Not retrofitted - designed in.

  • Safeguarding by design

    Identifiable images of children and vulnerable individuals carry growing risks (AI scraping, facial recognition, identity misuse). We design every site with safeguarding principles built into the structure - limited identifiable imagery, controlled retention, privacy-first architecture.

  • Communication and workload reduction

    When stakeholders find answers online, your team handles fewer routine queries. Better websites reduce administrative load.

  • All five, as standard

    Every Plainspoken build includes all of this from day one - the baseline, not an upsell.

    Start with a free audit
For schools

Schools

€600

One-off fixed fee. No subscription.

  • Fully bespoke design - no templates, designed around your school
  • As many pages as reasonably needed, no per-page charge
  • Department of Education statutory disclosure architecture (admissions, policies, governance, child protection, annual reports)
  • Safeguarding-by-design (limited identifiable pupil images, controlled galleries, image retention controls)
  • WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance
  • GDPR-compliant cookie and consent management
  • Mobile-optimised, fast-loading, modern infrastructure
  • Domain and hosting setup
  • 60-minute handover and training session
  • 30 days of post-launch support

Schools are typically working with the tightest budgets and the largest compliance load. We’ve priced this to be genuinely accessible while delivering work that meets every Department of Education and safeguarding expectation.

Book a discovery call
For charities

Charities

€900

One-off fixed fee. No subscription.

  • Everything in the Schools tier, plus:
  • Charities Regulator statutory disclosure architecture (constitution, trustees, accounts, governance code compliance)
  • Donations and fundraising-ready (Stripe, GoFundMe, or other integration as needed)
  • Trustee and governance section, built to demonstrate Charities Governance Code compliance
  • Newsletter signup with mailing list integration
  • Optional gated trustee/member area for board papers

Charities need more governance architecture and frequently need fundraising functionality on top of statutory disclosure. The additional €300 reflects the extra compliance and integration work.

Book a discovery call
For small businesses

Small businesses

€1,300

One-off fixed fee. No subscription.

  • Everything in the Charities tier, plus:
  • Commercial-facing design optimised for customer acquisition
  • Service or product pages structured for conversion
  • Contact and booking integrations (Calendly, Stripe, lead capture forms)
  • Basic SEO setup and Google Business integration
  • Analytics setup (Plausible or Google Analytics 4)
  • Optional simple e-commerce setup for up to 10 products

Small businesses use their website as a primary revenue channel rather than a compliance tool. The build is structured around conversion, sales, and customer acquisition - work that’s directly tied to business outcomes.

Book a discovery call

Optional add-ons

Things organisations sometimes need on top of the core build. Quoted clearly, no surprises.

  • Additional policy drafted (plain language, sector-specific) €100 each

    Examples: complaints policy, data protection policy, safeguarding policy, conflicts of interest policy, anti-bullying policy.

  • Privacy and cookie policy pack €100

    GDPR-compliant privacy notice, cookie policy, and consent flow tailored to your site.

  • Accessibility statement and compliance audit report €75

    Required for most public bodies and recommended for charities.

  • Child protection and safeguarding statement €150

    Schools and youth-focused charities - drafted to current Irish standards.

  • Additional pages beyond what’s reasonable in scope €75 each

    Most builds include unlimited reasonable pages - this covers genuinely large additions.

  • Content migration from existing site Free

    We bring your existing content across as part of the build, at no extra charge.

  • Copywriting in Plainspoken plain-language house style €100 per page

    If you’d rather we wrote it than supplied your own.

Ongoing maintenance

Once your site is live, you can maintain it yourself - or hand it over to us.

Maintenance Lite

€40/month
  • Hosting and domain renewal management
  • Security updates and patches
  • Monthly uptime check
  • Email response within 48 hours for fixes and issues
  • Minor text edits (up to 2 per month)

Suitable for organisations that update content themselves and just want the technical side handled.

Maintenance Plus

€120/month
  • Everything in Maintenance Lite, plus:
  • Content updates and changes (up to 5 hours per month)
  • Adding new pages, policies, or documents as needed
  • Quarterly accessibility and compliance check
  • Priority response (within 24 hours)
  • One annual structured review of the site against compliance standards

Suitable for organisations that need their site to evolve regularly without doing the work themselves.

Both tiers are month-to-month, cancel any time. A 12-month minimum reduces the price by 10%.

Free · No obligation

Not sure if your current website is doing what it needs to?

Get a free Website Compliance Audit.

We’ll review your existing website against accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2), GDPR and cookie compliance, statutory disclosure requirements (relevant to your sector), safeguarding-by-design principles, mobile and performance standards, and basic SEO and search visibility.

You’ll get a clear written audit (4-6 pages), a traffic-light score across each area, and specific recommendations for what needs attention. No pitch. No obligation. If you’d like us to fix the issues we found, we’ll quote separately.

Request a free audit

Free for schools, charities, sports clubs, and small businesses in Ireland. Typical turnaround: 5 working days from receipt of URL.

All prices net of VAT. VAT applied where applicable.

Free guides

Free guides.

Short, practical guides on governance topics. Free to download.

Ten Questions Every New Trustee Should Ask in Their First Board Meeting

A practical six-to-eight-page PDF for new board members and the chairs who induct them.

Get the guide

Pop in your email and we’ll send the guide straight over.

Articles

Articles.

We write occasionally on governance, strategy, and the realities of small-organisation leadership.

First article coming soon.

Not sure where to start?

Book a free thirty-minute discovery call. We’ll listen to your situation and recommend what makes sense - including “don’t hire us, do this instead” if that’s the honest answer.

Book a discovery call