Line Manager Name: Christie Burton
Job Title: Income Generation Manager
Pathways Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development 2024
Organisation Summary: Wild Futures is a primate conservation charity on the beautiful South-East coast of Cornwall that is celebrating its 60th year this year. Our flagship project is The Monkey Sanctuary, home to 37 monkeys, of 5 different species, most of whom have been rescued from the cruelty of the UK pet primate trade. Our small fundraising and communications team raise all the funds necessary for the charity to do its vital work, look after our loyal supporter base, and encourage visitors to the Sanctuary to learn more about animal welfare issues. We are a small, friendly and hardworking charity with a vegetarian/vegan ethos and a commitment to sustainability and providing habitat for important species in our nature gardens.
How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation/department?
Hosting an intern was a fabulous way to bring in some fresh ideas; our intern came up with ‘Miles For Monkeys’ as a future possible community fundraising activity and also pointed to some fundraising and engagement activities she had seen successfully utilised at other charities. As part of the internship Lucy was introduced to every role in the department and every staff member felt she had contributed ideas and suggestions to their field of work. It is always helpful to have the viewpoint and enthusiasm of someone from a different generation, bringing an injection of energy and fun.
How was your experience of hosting a Pathways intern?
Our intern worked in our offices, the benefit of which was that she got to spend time and meet all of our beneficiaries; the monkeys, and also staff, volunteers and donors on site. Measures to ensure the internship went smoothly ahead of Lucy arriving were to diarise appointments with the staff she would be meeting and ensure she was included in any talks, presentations or meetings that were happening during that period of time that would be good learning experiences for her. We were grateful that Lucy drove over an hour to reach the sanctuary as her commute and hope this was made worthwhile by everything she learned and experienced when she got here (and of course the monkeys!).
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 honestly didn’t come at the internship from the perspective of having the intern working on a project for the charity’s gain. Rather I see it as the charity offering an opportunity for someone who may be interested in a career working for a charity in the future to take a peek inside and see if it might be for them. I think interns are always surprised by the breath of the work taking place and certainly by the many hats that need to be worn by one person in a small fundraising and comms team. I also think the advantage of working so close to the charity’s beneficiaries shows the intern what is really the major perk of working for a charity; that you see those whose fortunes you care about each day and it reminds you why you do what you do.
Why would you recommend hosting an intern via Professional Pathways?
I think the students who are part of the scheme are always of a high calibre; articulate, well educated, able to gel with the group and follow instructions (even being proactive and seeing opportunities before they are pointed out). I also like that the students come from-a variety of majors so you inevitably end up with someone with a different set of skills and lived experience each time. Finally the best part is that you get to imbue the organisation’s passion into someone who is poised to go out in to the world and make a difference. What better opportunity is there than that?