Line Manager Name: Alice Davis
Job Title: Communications and Marketing Manager
Pathways Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development 2024
Organisation Summary: Devon Community Foundation has worked for more than 25 years across Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay, distributing funds from public sector and philanthropic sources to community organisations involved in activities to support the county’s residents.
How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation/department?
During her internship Marvella visited a few community organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers that Devon Community Foundation has funded and wrote blog posts about these visits. The posts will highlight the impact that these groups have and how the funding we distribute helps them to continue and develop their work. Marvella also shared insights from her visits with us as a team, which has supported our organisational knowledge about how to support this kind of work in Devon.
How was your experience of hosting a Pathways intern?
We have a hybrid working arrangement so our intern came into the office for one day, when most of us were in, and worked remotely the rest of the time. I think this arrangement worked fine because a good chunk of the remote working time was actually spent in visiting community organisations, so she was out and about and meeting people. We met for coffee on the first morning of her internship as I feel that initial face to face contact is important if possible, and I accompanied her on her first visit to make sure she was comfortable with doing them. From our perspective her day in the office was great as it meant everyone got to meet her and she took part in office discussions. I think it felt valuable to her too. Overall the balance of in person and remote working felt about right but I was aware of trying to keep in touch with her on days she was working remotely, so she felt supported, without being overbearing!
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?
Because the internship is relatively brief we did try to have a good plan in place before Marvella started. We had a chat in advance to discuss her particular interests and to talk about how we could shape the work around this. Luckily Marvella’s interests fit perfectly with a piece of work around organisations supporting refugees and asylum seekers that we felt would be really valuable. I tried to get the visits lined up before Marvella began her internship so that she could get started straight away, and sent her some background information. My main concern was that I would give her too much to do in a short space of time so I tried to keep the plan flexible so we could adapt it if needed to the time available.