Fundraising Intern Review

My internship at Cancer Research UK has been a great experience, and they really made me feel like a valued member of the team. It has exceeded my expectations, and I have been given ownership of a number of projects as well as being involved in a variety of events with the charity.

My colleagues were great to work with. They invited me to all the team meetings during my internship and I spoke with at least one of them every day. I felt that my opinions were really valued and listened to. They asked for my input on a number of projects, which made me feel like a valued member of the charity.

My supervisor was very supportive during my internship. During our initial meeting we discussed what we both wanted out of the internship and made plans to achieve this. Although they had their own commitments, effort was made to ensure I was given support when possible and they were always a phone call away.

I had a lot of projects to work on during my internship, which was great because I felt like a member of the team and that I was making a real difference. However, some of the work was a little unbalanced - there were some days/weeks where I had more to do than I could fit in and some much quieter.

I was given a lot of responsibility. As I was involved with a supporter facing team I had a lot of interaction with Cancer Research UK volunteers. I was also in charge of certain projects and given roles of responsibility in different team events. However, the team provided with any support I needed when necessary.

The internship at Cancer Research UK has really helped to build my confidence in both communication and working in an office environment. This will be crucial for future roles and give me greater confidence going into interviews. I am currently a biological sciences student and feel like this experience in the charity sector, particularly a charity raising money for research, has given me an insight into a future career I hadn't previously put a lot of thought into.

The Cancer Research UK office had a really friendly atmosphere and there was always something going on. I was able to get my work done whilst also meeting other people that work for the charity and hearing about their experiences. It was great that the office was so approachable and really made a difference to my time there.

It took a long time for me to hear whether I had been successful in getting the internship, which made it difficult to organize with my university. It also took a long time for my access card and IT equipment to be set up/work which was frustrating and led to a delay in me starting properly. I think this could be more organized in future to ensure that they are ready for interns before they start not after.

There were lots of personal development and training courses made available to me at Cancer Research UK. In particular, a LinkedIn training session really helped me to develop my profile, which will really help with future employment. There was also a lot of support on offer away from my manager, including a great mentoring scheme to offer impartial advice and a different perspective.

I have loved working at Cancer Research UK, and I would not hesitate to work there again. The work they do is amazing and the people who work there are so motivated and passionate. It is also a really supportive environment to work in, as well as a fun organization.

During my internships I was not regularly based in the head office it was difficult to interact with the other interns - although my team were very sociable and inclusive. I was aware that that there were lots of opportunities to get involved in socials with the other interns in London but as they were intern led, they were not very accommodating!

The cost of living was high in the London area so that didn't leave me very much money for socializing!! However, Cancer Research UK did provide me with all my travel and lunch costs, which made the work much more doable. This also left me with some money do live off of (i.e. rent).

I don't know about the nightlife in the area as I did not have much money left over to spend on this (as it was an unpaid internship)!!! As I was living a bit out of London to make it cheaper, travel was also difficult at night time to and from the area I worked (Angel).

I wasn't made aware of any activities to get involved in outside of work away from fundraising. This may be because I was based away from the Cancer Research UK head office. There were a couple of social events e-mailed around but they were often with short notice so hard to go to!