Category Archives: Pathways to Charity and Development

Student Blog Post: Exeter City Community Trust

Student Name: Ella

Pathway Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development

Internship Role: Charity Development Assistant

Internship Employer: Exeter City Community Trust

As a Sociology student in my final year, the thought of deciding what I want to do for a career was a daunting one! With so many different options and possibilities, I felt quite overwhelmed and unsure (and I know a lot of other students tend to feel the same!) I decided to apply for the University’s Professional Pathways internship programme, in the hopes of getting some experience and a clearer idea of what kind of job I might like to do in the future. There were 4 different sectors to choose from: I applied to the ‘Pathways to Charity and Development’.

For me, working in the Charity sector was an interesting prospect (and it seemed to link in well with my personal and academic interests), but I didn’t know much about it, and I wasn’t sure what types of jobs were available to me within the Charity sector. After applying to Professional Pathways, and being successful in the Assessment Centre, I secured a place on the scheme and was invited to attend a series of employer-led training sessions. Speakers from both local and national charities came in to discuss various topics (such as charity funding and fundraising, communications, volunteer management, and humanitarianism). The training week culminated in group presentations to a panel of employers, in response to different project briefs set by local charities. My group’s brief asked us to review, evaluate, and provide recommendations for Exeter City Community Trust’s social media channels. We were then rewarded with pizza, as well as a chance to network with employers!

After the training, I began my paid 35-hour internship. I was matched with Exeter City Community Trust (ECCT), as a Charity Development Assistant. During this internship, I have had the opportunity to learn about all the different roles within ECCT, as well as the programmes and activities that they offer for the community (focussing on sports, education, and wellbeing). A highlight for me so far has been helping with the “social café”, which was set up during COVID to combat loneliness. ECCT’s social cafe is a place where people can go, once a week, to have a cup of tea and chat with others. From talking to some of the regular attendees, it was clear how important this was to their own wellbeing! It seemed like a real lifeline for older generations, and it was amazing to see that it has made such a difference.

In terms of how my involvement in Pathways to Charity and Development has helped me in my career journey so far, I’ve gained valuable insight into what it might be like to work in the Charity sector. It’s also confirmed that this is a career I would love to go into; specifically, a role that centres around improving the wellbeing of communities. Looking ahead to finishing my internship with Exeter City Community Trust, I cannot wait to see what my next career steps are, and I’m excited to take what I have learnt from the Professional Pathways programme forward into life as an Exeter graduate.

Pathways to Charities & International Development is one of 4 sector specific training courses offered which make up the Professional Pathways programme, hosted by the central careers service. Employers can get involved by offering a 1 hr training session, providing a business project for students to work on in the training or hosting a funded 35 hr internship.

Student Case Study: Farms for City Children

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Student Name: Megan Green

Pathway Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development

Internship Role: Social Media Analyst

Internship Employer: Farms for City Children

What went well in your internship and/or what was your biggest achievement?

I produced a report providing an analysis of the charity’s current social media channels, an evaluation of TikTok as a future platform for the charity, profiles of potential ambassadors and recommendations for future strategy. By analysing engagement on social media, I also compiled a database of ex-beneficiaries.

What did not go so well in your internship? How did you overcome any challenges faced and what would you do differently in the future?

As the internship was remote, I found it difficult to concentrate for long periods of time. I tried to break up my day by going for walks etc and was fortunate to have daily check-ins on Teams with members of staff. It was useful to discuss the prevalence of remote work in the charity sector with members of staff and is something I will keep in mind when choosing a graduate career.
Having completed your Pathways internship, has anything come out of you completing the role?
My supervisor Susie Mann said I’d be welcome to carry out more work experience with Farms for City Children on a voluntary basis if I choose to in future. She also offered to provide me with a reference.
Your message to other students considering applying to Professional Pathways in the future?
“The Professional Pathways programme was really well organised and provided in-depth insight into working in different areas of Charity and Development. It allowed me to gain valuable paid work experience that can be difficult to find in this sector… thank you very much!”

Student Case Study: The Mare and Foal Sanctuary

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Student Name: Natasha Matsaert

Pathway Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development

Internship Role: Digital Communications Officer

Internship Employer: The Mare and Foal Sanctuary

What went well in your internship and/or what was your biggest achievement?

I really enjoyed my internship and got a good feeling for what a future career in digital communications might entail. I produced a report on email marketing (specifically engagement of welcome emails), wrote an update story on one of the horses, put together a TikTok video and created templates for social media posts.

What did not go so well in your internship? How did you overcome any challenges faced and what would you do differently in the future?

I had a few technical difficulties on my first day, which I was luckily able to resolve that evening. I think that I would have loved to go to the sanctuary in person too.

Having completed your Pathways internship, has anything come out of you completing the role?

I am staying involved doing some volunteering in communications for the sanctuary. I am planning on applying for a graduate role in the future.

Your message to other students considering applying to Professional Pathways in the future?

“Professional Pathways to Charity and Development has enabled me to gain invaluable experience which has allowed me to develop a better understanding of where I want to take my career. I was able to explore my passions, develop new skills, and make important connections within a charity of my choice and gain extensive knowledge of the charity sector through the pathways training provided. I am now staying involved with the charity that I have done my internship with and can’t wait to see what the future holds!”

Employer Case Study- Prostate Cancer UK

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“I would wholeheartedly recommend that employers get involved with Professional Pathways”

Line Manager Name: Jack Watts

Job Title: Direct Marketing Executive

How was your experience of hosting a Pathways intern?

Ellie was able to join us in the office on each day of her internship and met a range of colleagues from across the charity, either face to face or by video call. We purposefully scheduled her work days around when others would be in the office and on one day we had a scheduled Team Day where Ellie was able to meet the wider team and join us for lunch. We agreed to spread Ellie’s five working days over two weeks which gave me time to arrange her workload in between her work days and to review any work she had done before she started her next working day. Overall, we found that it worked really well and I know Ellie appreciated the flexibility we offered around when she could start and finish, as well as having the option to work from home if she needed.

Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, how would you recommend ensuring both you and your intern(s) gain as much as possible from the experience?

I’ve managed several Professional Pathways roles now, from different programmes and at different organisations. I’ve learnt that it’s really important to get the balance right between ensuring the experience is valuable for the student and that the outputs are useful for the employer. This can be a difficult balance to strike and weighting the internship too far in one direction or another will mean one of you may not get what you need from the experience.

To help both Ellie and myself meet our objectives, I made sure to manage expectations from the beginning of the internship. I had a quick call with Ellie before the internship began to find out what she was hoping to get from the experience and what areas of work she was most interested in, and I also explained we would have to balance work she found the most interesting with tasks that were high priority. Ellie completely understood this and we checked in regularly throughout the internship to make sure we were getting the balance right.

I think it’s easy to underestimate what students may get from certain tasks; things that are ‘business as usual’ to you and your colleagues may be more interesting to a student who has never done anything like it before.

Why would you recommend Professional Pathways to other employers?
I would wholeheartedly recommend that employers get involved with Professional Pathways. The programme always produces excellent students who are eager to get stuck in and bring a fresh perspective to any task. The Careers Team make the whole experience painless for the employer and take care of the entire recruitment, shortlisting, and matching process.
Students are always keen to learn as much as they can whilst offering their valuable skills and experience to the benefit of your organisation. If managed well, interns provide you with added capacity, allowing you to either delegate some business as usual work to free up your own time or assign a nice-to-have project to someone with fresh eyes and plenty of time.
There are multiple ways to engage with Professional Pathways and when these are done in combination, the benefits can be multiplied. We provided a group project for students on the Charity and Development Pathway which meant our intern had already become familiar with our organisation and our work, which helped her hit the ground running during her internship.

Employer Case Study- Cornwall Voluntary Sector Forum (VSF)

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“The research and skillset these students have might be something other charities need, so I highly recommend employing an intern”

Line Manager Name: Laura Barnes

Job Title: Marketing, Communications and PR Officer

How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation?

Cornwall VSF was gearing up for a sector-leading event, to introduce the VCSE to the new Integrated Care System. Having an intern gave us support to design a feedback system to gather as much information as possible. We used their impressive R&D skills to help us with this. We use the feedback gathered by the survey co-created with our intern to shape our future event offer. This will benefit charities and VCSE organisations in Cornwall, and in turn will benefit communities.

How was your experience of hosting a Pathways intern?

We are currently a remote organisation. Our intern rose to this challenge well. She attended our face-to-face event for 8 hours and took some amazing photos for us. We then arranged some face-to-face meeting to check she felt supported.

Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, how would you recommend ensuring both you and your intern(s) gain as much as possible from the experience?

I recommend designing or co-designing a plan to ensure the intern knows what’s expected of them. I had a call with our intern, to learn about their strengths and preferences, to design a project that is mutually beneficial.

Why would you recommend Professional Pathways to other employers?

Absolutely. The research and skillset these students have might be something other charities need, so I highly recommend employing an intern. It’s fantastic news that the interns are paid for their experience, opening this up to be as inclusive as possible.

What advice would you give to a student considering applying for Professional Pathways?

Have an initial call with the employer to ask for a robust project plan, which helps to design your hours well, and make the best use of your time. Don’t be afraid to challenge people and offer your viewpoint. You are skilled.

Employer Case Study- South West Coast Path Association

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“Professional Pathways internships are an invaluable opportunity to ‘see inside’ an organisation”

Line Manager Name: Christie Burton

Job Title: Head of Fundraising

How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation?

Our intern worked on the early stages of planning for a Youth Membership scheme which is being considered as a membership product that could potentially be offered by the Association in the future. As a young person herself, within the target audience for the scheme, and brimming with ideas, Hannah was able to suggest what she saw as being the most popular benefits that we could offer as part of the package, strategies to link with key organisations and groups, ideas for comms and technology and also some barriers to engagement that we should consider. This work will be seminal in the development of our team’s thinking around the scheme.

What advice would you give to a student considering applying for Professional Pathways?
Professional Pathway internships are an invaluable opportunity to ‘see inside’ an organisation and that insight is more valuable and current than any textbook description of what charities do and how they operate. My advice would be to jump in, don’t be intimidated, get involved and throw your ideas into the mix – odds are that the teams at the host charities and businesses are just waiting to hear from you!

Employer Case Study – Devon Community Foundation (DCF)

“Our Pathways interns have contributed greatly to our ability to conduct research.”

Devon Community Foundation is a charitable foundation, making grants to community organisations across Devon, as well as engaging in other community development partnerships. We are a small team, with limited resources, and have recruited interns from the Professional Pathways programme for the last three years. We are always limited in our activities by our capacity, and our Pathways interns have contributed greatly to our ability to conduct research. This was especially true this year, as our team has been flat out since April, processing emergency funding to organisations responding to the pandemic across the county. We had planned to spend some time over the summer reviewing the way in which we ask funded organisations to report back to us on the difference in the money made to the communities they work in. However, given the changed circumstances it was looking as if we’d have to put the bulk of that long-awaited work on hold.

Fortunately, we were able to reconfigure one important piece of pilot work as a project suitable for remote working and offered it as a placement through the scheme. We wanted an intern who could pilot telephone calls with grant holders as an alternative to them completing evaluation forms. We wanted to know whether this was feasible in terms of workload, whether it yielded useful feedback for us, whether grant holders would appreciate this opportunity to chat with someone about their work in the community, rather than write about it on a form, and if they would, what questions were the best to ask them. We knew we’d need an intern who was confident talking on the phone to people, especially as they’d have to do this work from home rather than from the office.

Luckily for us, our intern was more than capable of taking this on. She worked very effectively remotely, and was able to speak to a whole range of grant holders about their funding and the difference it had made to their work. The response was overwhelmingly that grant holders enjoyed the opportunity to chat with someone about their work, and how Devon Community Foundation’s grant had helped it move forward. For the Foundation, we got far more frank and detailed feedback than is usually evident on a form. and people were more prepared to talk through any challenges or unanticipated outcomes they experienced, as they were less worried that any admission of problems would lead to them being ‘marked down’. We learned a lot of valuable information that will help inform our grantmaking in the future, and the conversation was an important opportunity for the grant holders to reflect on what they had learned, and what they might do differently next time around.

Our intern also trialled and refined our list of topics to cover during these conversations, and her experience allowed us to judge what level of resource would be required to conduct these conversations in future and whether the role was suitable for a trained volunteer. As a result, with robust evidence that this is both feasible and effective, we’re planning to integrate telephone evaluation conversations into our new grant-making processes. Given the Covid situation, we’d never have been in a position to do that from an informed standpoint without the work of our intern.

While our intern was working with us, she wrote a short blog on her experience, and a longer piece reflecting on what she had learned from the conversations.

Employer Case Study – UppFutures

“Our intern was really beneficial for us by taking the lead with our marketing activities, creating eye-catching social media posts, and writing content for our website.”

How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation?
As a small charity, we struggle to strike the balance between investing time and efforts into the charitable projects and raising awareness of our cause – which directly helps us with more successful fundraising. Our intern was really beneficial for us by taking the lead with our marketing activities, creating eye-catching social media posts, and writing content for our website.

How was your experience of hosting a remote working intern?
There were no problems working remotely, I tried to make myself available as much as possible but due to meetings occasionally I wasn’t able to respond as quickly as I would have liked. Luckily, our intern was very proactive!

Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, how would you recommend ensuring both you and your intern(s) gain as much as possible from the experience?
From past experiences and my career in marketing, I am aware that 35 hours has limitations, however, I overcame this by ensuring there were distinct objectives prior to induction. I tried to keep admin to a minimum by setting up logins and programmes to enable the intern to focus solely on output rather than time-consuming admin tasks.

Why would you recommend Professional Pathways to other employers?
You get a very passionate and determined person who will move your organisation forward, regardless of how long they spend with you.

Employer Case Study – Living Options Devon

“A really productive and proactive week, our intern was able to take a fresh look at our digital communications and social media presence and give constructive feedback. “

How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation?

A really productive and proactive week, our intern was able to take a fresh look at our digital communications and social media presence and give constructive feedback.  They also carried out some invaluable research into different market sectors, areas of which we might not have explored ourselves.

How was your experience of hosting a remote working intern?

Really positive, the intern had a good work ethic, great autonomy, and was able to understand the objectives set and work effectively remotely. We set up good communication channels from the get-go, so we were able to keep in touch daily on progress and barriers.

Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, how would you recommend ensuring both you and your intern(s) gain as much as possible from the experience?

Make sure you establish two or three objectives beforehand on what you would like the intern to achieve, whilst also leaving room for them to offer some objectives of their own.  We gave our intern as much information about our charity as possible beforehand, along with the objectives and plan for the first day.  We then had an open discussion on the first day on what the intern was looking to achieve during their 35 hours and what we as a charity would like to achieve at the end of the week.  This open process created positivity and enthusiasm, we explored the areas the intern would like to learn more about based on their experience and future aspirations.  The intern met others in the organisation that were of interest to them, gaining a broader perspective of the not-for-profit sector.

Employer Case Study – The Mare and Foal Sanctuary

“Professional Pathways allows a student with an interest in the field to offer their time and skills and it helps stretched teams to achieve greater impact.”

How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation?
As a charity, we rely on donations and legacies in order to do our work providing lifelong loving care to hundreds of horses and ponies. Our intern kept major donors updated with the latest breaking news, such as the birth of our new foal Solar, and delivered tailored content dependent on donor interests whether that be capital projects such as new buildings, education projects, helping the vulnerable in our community, or urgent equine welfare interventions. The purpose of this type of contact is to thank a donor for their generosity, check-in with them to see how they are doing in this difficult time and inspire continued support of our charity. Due to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, all tasks were completed remotely in the form of letters, emails, cards, and phone calls. Following communications with our intern, donors got in touch with the Sanctuary to say how much they had enjoyed the contact and made donations to fund our work.

Our intern also assisted the Philanthropy Manager in collating information for applications to grant awarding Trusts and Foundations, which have the potential to make a significant difference to the projects we can undertake here. We’ve just been informed that we have been awarded funding. This will allow 12 children from our local community to benefit from Equine Assisted Learning at the Mare and Foal Sanctuary. We have lived experience of how horses have made a difference to our lives and we know how to make a difference to other people’s lives through horses. Our involvement in the Professional Pathways programme has been validated and has contributed positively to both our charity and our community and demonstrates the impact our Pathways intern has made in just a week! The award was £5,000 and there have been other donations from individuals in addition to this.

How was your experience of hosting a remote working intern?
Generally, it was a good experience, we only had one issue which was that the internet in the intern’s student accommodation did not allow the use of our Constituent Management System. The Philanthropy Manager was able to provide all necessary information, but a better internet connection would have meant the intern could gather this information and use the system themselves.

Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, how would you recommend ensuring both you and your intern(s) gain as much as possible from the experience?
I would recommend having plenty of tasks lined up and in a variety of formats. We found out that our intern particularly enjoyed making telephone contact with our donors, so it was great that we were able to offer a choice of modes of communication. Everybody works and learns differently so it is great to match the tasks to be completed to the intern’s interests and strengths.

Why would you recommend Professional Pathways to other employers?
Professional Pathways allows a student with an interest in the field to offer their time and skills and it helps stretched teams to achieve greater impact. We were particularly impressed by the intelligence, diligence, proactivity, and ability of our intern to hit the ground running and complete a wide variety of tasks autonomously. Our donors were delighted by the thoughtful communications.