Fundraising Intern Review

The summer placements are really competitive and I found the internship quite disappointing. I was bored a lot of the time without much to do and my team weren't the most approachable. Having so many other interns is great as you have people to socialise with though. Just a shame I was left doing small admin jobs, stapling and running to the shops rather than doing much I felt was of value.

I think the graduates appreciated interns a lot more as they are of a similar age and experience, while the permanent members of staff in my team were more indifferent.

By my grad, a lot of support and guidance but from senior members of staff, very little. I’m not sure having interns under graduates is the best system – although graduates are often easier to talk to and to relate to, they are generally waiting to be delegated to by more senior members of staff, which means they often don’t have enough of a work-load, or the authority, to be able to delegate to an intern.

The main disappointments of the internship were merely that I didn’t have enough to do. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have a long-term project which I could fall back on when there was little to do so I often found myself twiddling my thumbs even after having asked for a greater work-load. Members of staff often put a whole week aside for a task which would not take more than 2 days.

Unfortunately, some permanent members of staff didn’t really speak to the interns, didn’t want us to work on their projects and so we felt a little awkward at times. Some staff only ever gave me tasks which involved running out to get things from the shops or cutting/laminating bits of paper etc., and one staff member in fact laughed at us when we were doing so, which was frustrating.

As a humanities student, I can't say the skills will help in my degree but I know the application process was good practice and I've got some good examples and buzz words to use in interviews now.

The dress code is relaxed which is great if you don't want to spend a lot on an office wardrobe! Generally very relaxed in terms of taking lunches and breaks etc. so there were no problems there.

In general, well in terms of our intro day, our mentor scheme, our feedback forms and socials. In terms of my team, quite poorly; they took on 2 interns when really there was only enough of a work load for one, they hadn't planned what we would be doing so it was very much ad-lib, which left us bored and with nothing to do a lot of the time.

1-2-1s with your manager or mentor can be useful in terms of personal development goals but it doesn't really go further than that. I learnt some new computer skills as I went.

I wouldn't apply for the grad scheme as you only spend 6 months with each department, meaning you end up in a very similar role to an intern, sometimes with little to do or really menial tasks. Entry-level would be better, but sometimes I felt uncomfortable as the team tended to forget it was a charity and needed to keep costs down and acted more like a business.

Yes the interns arranged a pub quiz and a few evenings at the pub, unfortunately many of us weren't local and had long commutes so many couldn't taken advantage of this but the opportunities were there.

Angel is a lovely area of London, expensive but there are lots of nice bars and restaurants and it's only a 15 minh walk from king's cross which makes a lot of our commutes easier.

Again, there are lots of places to eat and drink, Shoreditch is only a short walk, as are Chapel Market and Exmouth Market, as well as Angel being on the northern line which means only being a few stops away from student-y areas like Camden.

Fundraising was mainly at work, bake sales etc., you can volunteer at events but again it depends on your financial situation. Volunteering at events often involves 12 hour days so they're long days and travel can be tricky if you live far away.