Matilde’s internship

What first interested you in the internship at It’s Time?

I’ve always had an interest in working with charities and NGOs, having volunteered actively throughout my life, and after reading about the work It’s Time does, I knew I had to apply. Its Times focus on aiding young people with their experiences of grief is so noble, especially when considering the lack of attention that is given to people aged 16 to 30. Moreover, the ability to learn about fundraising and experience working in a charity was incredibly interesting; as a politics student who hopes to work in the public and charity sectors in the future, the skills which surround fundraising seemed incredibly important to me to learn. Having this opportunity to learn about not only fundraising, but more generally the inner workings of a start-up charity organization was incredibly enticing to me.

What was your role?

I undertook the role of Fundraising Intern! I worked with (the amazing) Libby on researching and creating resources on ways to raise funds for It’s Time, mostly through trusts and foundations, and formatting this so it is useful after my internship is over.

What did you get up to?

My overall goal was to create a resource that compiled as many foundations and trusts as possible into one concise place, so as to ease the application process. In this, I spent my time researching trusts and foundations that were interested in working with a charity like It’s Time; facing many technicalities and confusing wordings, this was really enlightening and often proved a challenge! I created a possibly overly-organized Excel spreadsheet to store all this information, which I hope is useful for future applications! Over the weeks I also focused on creating a template application for grant applications, again with the goal of streamlining the application process for It’s Time so that we can apply to as many trusts as we can. Towards the end of my time, I got to use these resources by applying for a trust! The process was completely new to me and super educational, but hopefully we’re successful!!

What will you take away from the experience?

I’ll start with singing some praises about the team at It’s Time. The work environment that I encountered here was so incredibly inviting; everyone was so lovely and helpful, and the general work culture was incredibly flexible and understanding!

I really value everything I learnt about the way a charity, and especially a young charity, runs on a day to day basis. Seeing all the loops and twists and turns that go into making a charity work successfully towards its beneficiaries, as well as society as a whole, was incredibly impactful and made me value the work done by institutions such as It’s Time so much more.

As for more practical things, I’ve definitely honed some of my transferable skills, especially from adjusting to the loops encountered by a start-up. Fundraising and organisational skills, attentiveness to detail in research, and an attempt at understanding and using Excel, are only some of the skills I’ve taken away from this experience.

What will you do after this?

I’m about to enter my third and final year in my Politics degree, and am really looking forward to working on my dissertation; over the summer I’ve been reading and researching my chosen topic, which focuses on neocolonial ‘security’ policy measures and their impact on a milieu of minorities (it’s a mouthful), and I’m really looking forward to go into more and more depth! I’m planning on applying to master's programs this year, again with a focus on international relations and security studies, and further in the future I hope to keep working with charities and nonprofits, as well as international organizations on international relations issues with a focus on security. Last but not least, I’m looking forward to going back to volunteering in London, particularly with Barnardo’s and Just Like Us before uni starts back up again!

Matilde - Fundraising intern, 2022