Name of Student: Lucy Avis
Pathway Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development 2024
Internship Role: Fundraising and Communications Intern
Summary of Organisation: 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 you find the group project element of the Professional Pathways programme?
As part of the Pathways programme for 2024, I completed a group project for The Mare and Foal Sanctuary with the aim to produce a Community Fundraising Action Plan to develop their engagement and income generation from community and corporate sources! This included an audit of previous fundraising efforts, charity studies of other South West charities’ fundraising efforts, market research on the trends in the sector, a SWOT analysis of engagement in community fundraising and the introduction of possible new fundraising avenues.
This was truly insightful into the challenges facing fundraising in the charity sector which will prove highly beneficial in my future work in the conservation sector.
Please tell us a little bit about your internship experience with Wild Futures.
For those who don’t know Wild Futures, they are the only UK primate welfare and conservation charity rescuing, campaigning, educating and providing sanctuary to primates in need, with many of their residents rescued from the UK Pet Trade.
During my internship I had the opportunity to assist the Income Generation Manager in writing applications for multiple trusts and grants which really improved my confidence in application writing as it built upon my experience as Treasurer for the SU Dance Society this last year. This also involved training in the CRM system Advantage Fundraising which is an organisational software for donor and sponsorship information, and I really enjoyed learning about the ins and outs of maintaining relationships with individual and corporate donors. I also had the opportunity to shadow the adoptions and marketing department which was really insightful to learn how a small team can work together to set up different income and engagement streams for the charity.
As the team at Wild Futures knew I was studying Zoology they also gave me the opportunity to work with the primate care team on a routine which I am really grateful for. It was very inspiring to see the work that goes into caring for these primates whilst respecting their individual physiological and psychological needs.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to learn about the complexities of running a small charity from a financial and administrative point of view in contrast to my usual fieldwork experience and I can’t wait to see what Wild Futures get up to in the next 60 years!