Volunteer Fundraising Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at Cancer Research UK. The scheme is really well organised, with workshops about interview and presentation skills, LinkedIn, excel, outlook and powerpoint built in. On top of this your manager has to put forward a case of why they want an intern, so you get to work on an actual project that will benefit the charity.

The whole working culture at CRUK is great, and everyone I met was very friendly and welcoming. I was really lucky to be put in a great team. The nature of the project we were working on meant that everyone was learning together which was nice, as it made me feel less like an outsider.

My manager really cared that I got the most out of my experience so we had 4 meetings discussing whether I had met the internship objectives that I set myself. I was also invited to sessions that my team was going to, such as Search Engine Optimization, 'How to talk about Cancer', 'How to write for the web' and Drupal training. On the first day my manager gave me a role profile, and went through exactly what was expected of me.

This was something that I was worried about before the internship, but there was probably only one day during the thirteen weeks where I didn't have anything to do. Our team had planning meetings every two weeks where we decided what we wanted to achieve during the next two weeks, created tasks out of this, and delegated according to how many days we would have free. This meant that I always had enough to do.

I was given a project within our spoke to design an email journey, and I was owner of this project. This meant that I was invited to all meetings that related to this project, and I could have an input and my opinion was listened to. However I felt like this was the right amount of responsibility, anymore and I might have felt overwhelmed.

The general verbal and written communication, and presentation skills that I developed will be directly relevant in helping me with the last year of my degree. The more specific skills and training that I received such as ways of management, drupal, trello, writing for the web and so on will be more relevant if I get a job at a company in the future. More specific things like the charities branding would be invaluable if I were to work here again.

The general atmosphere of the angel office of Cancer Research UK is lovely. The culture does not feel at all macho and competitive, perhaps due to the large proportion of women. The atmosphere feels more professional than other charities that I have worked for before, but at the same time was really personable. Everyone that I met clearly liked working for CRUK, and were passionate about the cause which gave a feeling of togetherness.

The internship was very well set up. The whole process from applying to receiving a job was very smooth. There was a really good first day introductory session which introduced the departments of the charity, and meant that all the interns could meet and get to know each other through team building exercises, which was enjoyable.

The company invested in us as interns a great deal. I think this is because many people who intern work for the company in the future so it is worth their time. As previously mentioned there are many sessions that help interns both while they are doing their internship, but also with skills such as CVs. We were able to have a CV 1:1 with an individual in HR which was really useful, and not necessarily in the charities benefit so it felt like they cared about you.

I was told that if I didn't have to go back to university I would be offered a job straight after the internship, so future employment prospects are appealing. I am definitely going to apply for next year's graduate scheme, and keep an eye on the alumnae facebook page to see if any jobs come up. However it is very competitive as it is a popular charity, so even though future employment is appealing, I'm not sure how good the prospects would be.

The social scene was really good with both fellow interns and my colleagues from my team. Interns are encouraged to carry out fundraising events, so we bonded whilst raising money through a variety of events that we had organised. We also regularly went to the pub together. The social scene was also great with colleagues, and there were many birthday and leaving events during my time at CRUK which were fun.

The internship is based in Angel, in central London so the cost of living and socialising is obviously extortionate. The charity subsidises travel and up to £4 a day for lunch which helped a lot. However I think if you weren't based in London and had a commute longer than 90 minutes it would be almost impossible to do the internship. A local pub offered a 20% discount so that was nice.

There are many good pubs, bars and restaurants in the area I worked which I made use of. There are also clubs nearby, although I didn't go to one during the internship. As the office is right next to Angel tube station it is easy to get around London and access even more great bars, pubs, restaurants and clubs.

Being a charity, there are lots of opportunities for getting involved with fundraising and volunteering activities outside of work, for example helping at Cancer Research UK events and helping in shops, in a whole variety of roles. These are advertised regularly. The interns also put on their own fundraising events, some of which such as the Pub Quiz took place outside of work.