The week of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival

My role as an Intern at Oxfam has been to organise Oxfam's presence at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival 2011. The festival has been and gone, my internship has finished and I'm enjoying some down time back home in the North East. I've got a lot of blog posts to write and upload but I am going to start with my last week at Oxfam. Hopefully it will be useful for anyone thinking about doing an internship with Oxfam, as you can see the tasks I completed, the skills I used and how fantastic and supportive the Oxfam Scotland staff were!


Monday


9.30am - Arrive at the Oxfam Scotland Office.

Not feeling great so munch on some Vitamin C tablets as I really don't have time to be ill.

10am - Computer is turned on and both my personal Oxfam Inbox and the Edinburgh Marathon Inbox are open. Lots of emails to get through from runners that have come in over the weekend.

I decide to spend the morning focussing on runner support and the afternoon focussing on race day. I'm trying to split my time so that the most important and urgent jobs are completed first, whilst ensuring that the projects objectives are met.

However, my carefully planned day is thrown out the window when I hear that the Wednesday delivery has come today. I go downstairs to find a lorry with all the things I will need for the weekend... and there is a lot of stuff! I'm not looking forward to unloading (as I thought it was coming on Wednesday I haven't arranged helpers) but then Malcolm appears on his way to lunch. He offers to help and heads out to the lorry with me. I think he thought there would only be a couple of boxes rather than an entire pallet load! Thanks again if you're reading this.


1pm - I have sorted the delivery into items for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. For the rest of the day I work through my to do list and speak to runners on the phone.

5pm - Catch up with James (Sponsored Events Manager) about volunteer numbers and race day logistics.

Tuesday

I have taken the week off from my bar job, but pop into the beauty salon for a few hours to help on reception. In the afternoon, I work from home and write the post-race survey for our runners.

Wednesday


9.30 am - Arrive in the office.

I write a To Do list that is so long I laugh. It's not that bad though, just lots of small tasks that need to be completed.

I write up FAQ to send over to the Supporter Relations Team who are going to answer email enquiries for me on Friday. In addition, I make a volunteer pack for race day which includes FAQ, troubleshooting advice, my contact details and details of who the Oxfam Staff are.

6pm - I go round the corner and resign from my bar job as I'm moving home next week. Very sad about leaving as I love the people I work with.

Thursday


Work at home for a bit, then drive over to Edinburgh to set up our stand in "The Hub".

"The Hub" is at Holyrood Park and is the start and finish area for the 5k and 10k on Saturday. It has a help desk for runners and an expo with charities, other marathons and running merchandise.

After a while on site and a fight with a pop up stand our area has it's own cheering party!

I email Alicia, the Running Events Manager the pictures.

On my way out I have a look to see what the other charities have done, but they're not here yet.

Friday


Absolutely manic day spent tying up loose ends before race day.

This includes:

• Checking in with Volunteers.
• Going over race-day plan with James.
• Answering runner enquiries over the phone.
• Sending good luck emails to runners. This includes an offer of grand-stand tickets for the finish line, as the events company have given us some. It's first come first serve and responses come in quickly.
• Moving the entire delivery from the office to my flat in two car loads. Thank you to Jen for loading my car with me and my neighbour Adam for helping me carry it up to my flat on the 2nd floor!

I get home and realise I haven't printed the forms for massages tomorrow. Go over to my Uncles to print them and chat to him about the marathon. I'm excited but calm and it's nice to talk about it, as it feels like it is really going to happen.

Pick up my brother Nick from the station who has volunteered to massage runners tomorrow and on Sunday. 

Saturday

6am - Get up, pack up the car and head off to Edinburgh.

10am - I'm cheering on our runners with Sarah and Annie and I'm having a fantastic time. 

1pm - The races are over and the girls head off. Nick has been busy manning the stand and handing out vests to runners for tomorrow. We have ran out of Oxfam foam hands and had a fantastic morning.

4pm - Pick Selina up from the Station who will be a Race Day Coordinator tomorrow. We go over to Musselburgh and set up the Marquee at the reunion area.

9pm - Get home. Confirm with runners who have got grandstand tickets and compile a list for Selina tomorrow. Elizabeth (a volunteer who is in charge of the cheering point tomorrow) arrives to pick up flags, foam hands and T-shirts.

12am - Go to bed. My neighbours decide to have a drunken street party. 

Sunday

4am - Get out of bed after 1 hours sleep. V.scared that I am going to crash and burn during the day.

5am - Get petrol and breakfast which consists of granola and a v.large can of Red Bull. Pick up Bryony who is running in the half and needs a lift to Edinburgh.

6.30am - Drop her off as near to the start as I can.

7am - I am lost as road works have sprung up over night, roads are closed for the marathon and I didn't bring a sat nav. I am trying to pick up James so we can all do the final set up together.

8am - In Musselburgh and we are busy setting up as the Half Marathon begins.

11am - Nick & my lovely housemate Cate arrive to help.

1pm - The Oxfam tent is buzzing with runners, spectators and volunteers. Staff from the Oxfam Scotland office are here and helping out, lots of people have given up their time and my family are here to! My Mum is providing our runners with tea, my Dad is taking photos and my brother Nick is busy massaging some very tired legs.  Selina is at our reception table greeting runners, handing out Grandstand Tickets and telling them what's inside the tent.  I can't describe the atmosphere so instead here are some pictures:

10pm - Back in Glasgow and shattered after a very long week. Tired but very happy and a little sad that it's all over. 3 days left of my internship and 5 days till I move home.....

Update - #TwitterJobChallenge

On Tuesday I began the #TwitterJobChallenge as set by the Guardian. The idea was simple - I had to tweet 5 companies/charities that I would like to work for and see what response I got. Below are the tweets that I sent:

I wrote an individually tailored tweet for each company/charity as I wanted to show that I knew the company/charity and their business. So for example when I tweeted @ReadingRoom_UK I knew that they do not not like people who define themselves as social media gurus. Granted because of this they are unlikely to hire through social media, but I admire their work and thought they might appreciate the tongue in cheek nature of my tweet!

However, it wasn't the tweets that I spent the most time thinking about. It was who to tweet, as I could only tweet 5. In addition, Twitter is a public medium and so is my profile so those I tweeted could see who else I tweeted. In the end I decided to hedge my bets and tweet a mixture of organisations who all work in an area that I am interested in, rather than sticking to one sector.

The things they have in common are:

• They have a good online presence.
• They are in or work with the Third Sector, Sport or Theatre.
• A job with them would give me an opportunity to be creative, fundraise or grow the company/charity.
• I have followed their work and I am generally interested in them.

At the time of writing this post I have had 4 responses and 6 new followers. 3 of those that responded requested my CV; including the response from my original post. 1 recruitment company asked me to register on their website. I would say that for something I have not tried before and very forward that it has been pretty successful. Especially as I have been given personal email addresses of people who work for these organisations and not just a generic vacancies or info inbox. As of yet, I have not been given a job or asked for an interview (not that I was expecting the former) but I have made it on to some organisations radars and that, I think, is half the battle. 

Another happy outcome is that by limiting myself to 5 tweets only I have realised what I want for my next role. I only want to work in a couple of sectors, for places who are embracing technology and who's values I believe in. In future I am only going to put my energy into applying for jobs that include these 3 things, because as my Dad says, "Don't apply for a job you don't want, because the buggers will offer it to you!"

@emlgx is a graduate who was also tweeting in the #TwitterJobChallenge at the same time as me. Her blog of her experience can be read here.

#TwitterJobChallenge

So there are 6 weeks left until the Edinburgh Marathon Festival and the end of my placement.

I've registered with a few vacancy sites that are relevant to the Third Sector and have cast my net a bit wider by registering for updates on marketing and events jobs in general. One of such sites is the Guardian Jobs website and thanks to their newsletter I found out about the #TwitterJobChallenge.

You can read their explanation of the challenge here but it basically amounts to tweeting 5 companies you would really like to work for and seeing if you get a job out of it. I've been following the feed today and have seen a few different examples of this in action. Including an offer for those taking part in the challenge to get in touch with someone whose team will be recruiting soon. I tweeted them straight away and have been asked to email my C.V. So far I am loving the #TwitterJobChallenge.

I'm going to begin the challenge in earnest tomorrow as it's currently 10pm in the U.K and if I tweet a company now my tweet will disappear down their feed by the morning. I also need time to decide who I am going to tweet as there are a number of charities, pr/events/marketing companies and sporting bodies who I would love to work for. To stick to the rules of the challenge I can only tweet 5 and I think I've already used up one.

As I love social media I am very excited about taking part in this tomorrow. In the mean time I'm off to finish a job application.

If you want to join in but don't know how to use Twitter check out Socially Good's guides to Twitter.

Beginners
Intermediate
Advanced

Did you see John? Centre Point's advertising campaign is fantastic

While flicking through the Big Issue this week I saw Centre Point's fundraising advert. The above is a screen shot of their landing page www.centrepointroom.org.uk/john38

"John" is the young man pictured on the landing page and who features in the advert. The full page black and white advert stands out amongst the many colourful ads and John's picture takes up  a good portion of the page. He is pictured underneath the heading, "Did you see John? Have a look on page 30. Did you see him? Or did you look past him and carry on with your life?"

This shocked me, as I had not seen him. I turned to page 30 and low and behold there John was. I felt a pang of guilt and then awe as this is a fantastic advertising campaign.


The advert is good because:

• It highlights the invisibility of the homeless in our society.
• It engages readers in a clever way.
• It makes potential donors feel guilty about their own behaviour.
• They have invested in a large advert to fully explain the cause.

It could be even better if:

• It had a QR code so that potential donors could log onto the website immediately through their smart phones.

I have deliberately not posted the advert. If you want to see it in print go and buy the Big Issue and help support the homeless.

Twitter ensures customer complaints are public

In an effort to connect with their customers and create a modern brand image ASOS and BT have created customer care accounts on Twitter. The benefits for these two brands are clear. Not only do they allow rapid response to complaints that are convenient for the aggrieved customer; they reinforce and reaffirm their brand image. ASOS’s account continues their efforts to remain an innovative clothing brand; born out of their markets desire to be part of the new celebrity and internet led fashion scene. For BT it is part of a wider marketing strategy to appeal to young professionals who grew up with the brand but who do not necessarily relate it to the modern world of communications.

The approach of both accounts is to speak to their customers in a way that is friendly, professional and polite. In my view, the language used can be compared to friendly coffee baristas’ who enjoys providing good customer service. ASOS and BT successfully appear human (BT go so far as to name the staff that are operating their twitter feed) yet because they become human, they are opening themselves up to the rebukes and over-exaggerated claims baristas face everyday.

In the past an unhappy consumer had only a few options by which to lodge a complaint. They could make a relatively public complaint in a shop or restaurant that would have been witnessed by members of the public in the vicinity. Or they could go down the formal route of emailing, writing to or calling the company they were unhappy with which would usually remain private between the customer and company. However, in the age of Twitter written complaints (that carry more weight than raised voices in a shop) are published for all to see.

Having worked in the service industry since I was 15 and dealt with many complaints I would say that the majority are legitimate. However, there are a minority that are exaggerated and often due to no fault of the major company, restaurant or shop. How damaging is it to a brand when the latter appear on their Twitter feeds? If I was new to ASOS, as a lot of customers are in their emerging markets, I could be forgiven for being unsure whether to trust a company that one Twitter user labelled “A huge piece of shit.” I doubt that for ASOS, who’s customer care account has conversations with many satisfied customer and a successful social media presence, that the aforementioned tweet caused to much concern. Yet surely for small businesses interaction with customers on Twitter could be dangerous.

Five years ago I wouldn’t have expected a small café or local bar to have a website. Nowadays if they don’t I’m suspicious. Equally I expect places billed as being stylish and aimed at the young professionals market to have a presence on Facebook or a blog. In five years time, it’s likely my suspicion of small businesses who do not have a website will extend to those who are not online socially. There are already websites such as Trip Advisor who allow users to write scathing reviews of small hotels and B&Bs. For the reviews that are unjust (and we’ve all seen bad reviews for hotels we know to be friendly and clean) surely this is defamation or at the very least libel.

Twitter is 5 years old this week and has established a new avenue for marketers to explore. Do the benefits out way the risks of leaving your brand in the hands of faceless online comments? Is it time the marketing industry worked with social media providers to develop a set of guidelines to distinguish what is and is not acceptable for complaints published on the internet? Or would that be an attack on free speech and the social aspect of social media?

An interning week in Oxfam Scotland

For any budding interns out there here's a diary of my working week to give you a taste of what it's actually like to intern for Oxfam.

Monday


Get into the office at 9am, turn on computer, open up diary and write to do list for the day. At 9.30am I head downstairs into our diary meeting. I'm not sure if this happens at Oxfam House (if it does it'll be each individual team not the whole office) but at Oxfam Scotland whoever is in the office meets up and fills everyone else in on what they'll be working on this week. I got congratulated on how runner recruitment has gone so far; so that gave me a happy little buzz for the rest of the day.

I spent the morning emailing runners, updating spreadsheets and speaking to runners on the phone.

At lunchtime I went back into the meeting room for a talk from two lovely ladies that had come to visit the office. One lady was the Oxfam GB Regional Programme Funding Manager for South Asia. She explained about the 6 year "We Can" programme that aims to end violence against women in the region. In addition she explained how Oxfam India was established and what programmes and campaigns they will be running in India. They too are aiming to end violence against women. Their website can be found here.

We then heard from the Country Director for Pakistan. She told us about the impact the floods have had and what is happening now. **This was really hard to hear but also very inspiring as I know the money our Oxfam runners are raising in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival will help those in Pakistan and those in future emergencies.

In the afternoon I helped Helen (the Oxfam Do intern) pack up boxes to be delivered to Oxfam shops across Scotland for the scottish launch of Oxfam Do. If you're near an Oxfam Shop on Saturday 12th Feb go in, try some lovely Fairtrade goodies and find out about "Doing the DO".

Left the office at 5.30pm.

Tuesday


I worked in a bar all day to help fund my internship.

Wednesday


I had a huge to do list today, so I plugged myself into Fearne Cotton and later Greg James and got on with it.

I spent the day working on recruitment of runners. This is quite a broad thing to do but it basically involves looking at which groups of people run and promoting Oxfam as a charity to run for.

I got some careers advice from the lovely ladies in my office. (There is a strong belief in Oxfam that interns should be given a great deal of careers advice and help.) I read up on whats going on in the third sector as it's important to have something to talk about at interviews besides your work experience. This mainly included reading up on marketing and fundraising and I'll post some links to useful sites.

Thursday


I spent the morning answering runners questions. Then I legged it into town for a quick lunch shift at the bar before a 1-1 meeting with my line manager.

Then....

I went to a knitting class! It was so much fun and not old-fashioned at all. I'm going to knit some squares for the IWD quilt that will be displayed at the Tramline in Glasgow. I've also found out that there's loads of knitting clubs around Glasgow so I'll add a few to the Glasgow Life page.

Friday


Worked at the bar all day. Tonight I'm going to be blogging and knitting. Tomorrow I am off to Edinburgh to help out in a bag pack for Oxfam.


** The floods in Pakistan have affected 20 million people and they covered an area the size of England! There was no warning that they were going to happen as forecasts for the year had predicted that the season would be normal and that Pakistan could even expect 30% less rain. The waters destroyed homes, crops, livestock and took many lives. In some places the water was 20-30ft deep. At present a food crisis is developing and UNICEF are trying to establish how serious it could be. 1 million people are in an emergency state and 6 million have no shelter.

You might not have realised the floods were so bad as there wasn't the same level of media coverage as there was for the earthquake in Haiti. I found a blog post that discusses why this might be.

"Confessions of a City Girl"

I recently read "Confessions of a City Girl" by Suzana S and thought I would write a review about it.

The book tells the story of Suzana S and leads on from her columns as 'City Girl" that were published in TheLondonPaper before it closed. Suzana S (real name Barbara Stcherbatcheff) graduated from Colgate University with a music degree and went on to achieve her ambition of becoming a City Trader. The book charts the pitfalls she encountered along the way, her marriage and divorce and her constant battle against sexism in the workplace. I didn't expect much from it, as I have a pretty hostile view of bankers  and suspected it may have been an attempt to recreate the magic of a Miss C. Bradshaw. However, I was pleasantly surprised as it was actually an inspirational read.

I absolutely loved and felt inspired by the feminist message in this book. Suzana (I'll call her by her 'character' name) continually fought against men who refused to offer her any insight into the profession let alone offer her a job as a trader. Although they were quite happy to offer her another type of job - lovely. She refused to give up, did not sleep with anyone and kept and used her femininity rather than dressing like a man. In addition, she doesn't shy away from feminism; she actively strives for and expects equality rather than denying that she is feminist because of the dated assumption that all feminists are radical.

The book gives a sharp, witty and self-deprecating insight into the City. Highlighting the gambling, drinking, luxuries and ridiculous wealth but also the stress, extra-marital affairs and self-destruction that accompanies trading. It also explores roles other than trading and documents the cliques within the City that may have worsened the financial crisis. Personally I don't think I could hack working with numbers all day as I thrive when being creative. However, prior to reading "Confessions of a City Girl" I had never considered that my skill set could be applied to roles within the financial sector. Perhaps if I had read a book like this in my career classes at school rather than the '... you're good at English, here's what you can do sheet' I would have explored what else was out there for me. The outcome would probably be the same, I could never work in the City, but I do thinks it's this kind of thing that should form the careers curriculum.

Most of all, I found the book inspiring because Suzana graduated with a Music degree and felt, like I have, that people assumed she wouldn't be successful. I graduated with a Drama degree and although I know that I learnt a great deal, including practical skills, many people have dismissed it as a Mickey-Mouse course. It's also inspiring that she had to start at the bottom and didn't always find it easy but that she got there in the end. I'm enjoying my internship but there are moments when I wish I was in a paid role, so it's good to know I'm not the only one to find the beginning of their career difficult at times.

There are problems with the book though. It's hard to get around the fact that the author made a lot of money from trading before she left to be a Derivative Consultant (read the book if you want to understand what one is). I don't think it's fair to berate someone for being successful and she obviously worked very hard. Equally you could say it's not mine or anyone else's business how big a bonus she received. On the other hand though, people who had nothing to do with the financial sector are suffering because of it's mismanagement. It's impossible to ignore that while I'm doing an internship and the majority of graduates I know are unemployed or doing temp work that the author played a part in a systematic gamble with the global economy. Towards the end of the book she suggests reasons the financial crisis could have been avoided (like frontline staff talking and listening to backroom staff) but fails to outline or hint at how much she earned or show remorse.

Overall my problems with the book stem from my problems and anger with some members of the City and this doesn't take away from what I got out of the book. If it wasn't about the City in the middle of the financial crisis, if it was about another industry it would be a truly inspirational read and I would recommend it to anyone beginning his or her career.

"Confessions of a City Girl" by Suzana S was published by Virgin Books in 2009.

Click here to go to the author's website.

Another review can be read here

Can Charities Exploit a Different Social Media?

I recently read an article in "Marketing Week" magazine that outlined research into effective charity marketing; with the aim being to highlight efficient ways to attract long term donors. The article states that the majority of donors first donated because they had wanted to help the particular charity for a while with only 2% being influenced by a social media item. For fundraisers this means that  direct marketing works when it highlights the charity's cause but that social media is not necessarily persuading the public to donate. I think that social media, is as yet, still a pretty untapped research. Although a quick google search on social media marketing will throw up endless blogs and articles the subject idea seems to be largely the same. "How can charities improve their social media strategy?" Yet a lot of the answers seem to only focus on Facebook and Twitter and ignore other methods.

There have been some excellent examples of using Facebook for fundraising and campaigns. The most common and well known is last years NSPCC Facebook campaign (although not started by them according to Third Sector), which asked users to change their profile picture to a cartoon character from their childhood. . It was a simple ideas that was fun for adults (especially those in their twenties who seemed the most keen on my wall feed) to take part in. They got to reminisce about their childhoods, see what their friends had put up whilst at the same time digesting a very real campaign message - that not every childhood is happy. The NSPCC received £100,000 in donations and their Facebook fans doubled. Twitter to is a very useful medium for sharing links to followers to highlight a charity's work. It is also readily used by those working in the Voluntary Sector to share news, jobs, ideas and praise. But what about virtual worlds, instant messaging, podcasts and apps?

Virtual Worlds


Although it's growth has slowed SecondLife is still a huge online community, full of technologically aware and innovative people. I did a lot of research on SecondLife and theatre for my degree as plays are now being created and performed within it and some theatre companies use it live within their shows. I found that back in the 1990s a theatre conference was put on virtually. It used very basic commands and a lot of imagination but it was a successful online conference. Surely charity conferences could be put on virtually, if only once to highlight the different ways the internet and social media can be used. Since beginning my internship I've seen lots of conferences and talks on the subject of social media. Conferences can be fantastic sources of information and networking but they are also expensive and include a lot of transport and carbon costs. An online conference would be cheaper and have less of an impact on the environment. I think I might develop my own online interns conference. Watch this space!

SecondLife can also be used for campaigns and fundraising and virtual worlds will become increasingly valuable to those trying to reach a younger audience. Disney have used their virtual world (Club Penguin) to increase children's awareness of charities and causes and to ask them who they should donate to. This article showcases some examples of virtual world fundraising.

Instant Messaging


IM had had a revival amongst my twenty-something since we discovered BBM (Blackberry Messenger). MSN messenger used to be my IM of choice as a teenager and I still love having free online chats, often about nothing. Lets be honest I would never just send a smily face to a friend by text. As far as I understand for BBM to work you have to have a PIN and give that PIN to another BBM user. Wouldn't it be feasible for a charity to give out a PIN for any BBM user to add and then they could receive short updates from the charity. I could see this being used for particular fundraising events like the Edinburgh Marathon Festival or OxfamDo. For example, I could give out my Blackberry's pin to runners and then BBM them updates of our fundraising total, or send them all a broadcast message on the day to say good luck. Obviously this would not work on a large scale on BBM but surely this is something that could be developed. I think it would be a really good way of engaging with twenty-somethings as Twitter is more popular with those over 30. In addition if a IM message pops up on your phone, you're likely to see it; whereas updates on Facebook can get lost in the endless stream of Farmville and Mafia whatever wall updates.

Apps

Steve Jobs needs to allow donations through apps. In the mean time I think charities should develop virtual magazine apps for the IPad. These could highlight a campaign with links to videos online, could feature interviews with employees, incorporate training manuals (for sport related fundraising) and lots more.


Technology is exciting isn't it!

Off to update my Twitter and Facebook - still the best ways to share a link.

Busy bee

I have had a crazy week!

Although I started back at Oxfam on the 6th Jan it was Monday this week when everything really kicked up a gear. January is a key recruiting month for runners as it is the period of New Year Resolutions. I've even signed up to run in the Bupa London 10,000 in a bid to keep up a fitness regime. I have a feeling I'll stick to it as Oxfam did a survey and 42% of respondents usually give up on a new year fitness regime within a month but that falls to 28% if they have signed up to run for us. So if you want to get fit sign up to fundraise with Oxfam and your more likely to look good in your bikini in summer! Armed with this extra information I've been busy contacting Personal Trainers, Running Clubs, Sports Associations etc and I'm going to do some more next week. It's rewarding to see that our sign-ups have increased this week and most seem to have come from Scotland so looks like I'm doing something right.

What's most exciting though is that I'm going to takeover Oxfam's communication with our Edinburgh Marathon Festival runners. If you've signed up expect to speak to me a few times over the coming months. I'll be sending emails, making phone calls and answering runners enquiries. I also get to write my own communications and formulate a timetable. I'm really looking forward to speaking to the runners I've met and getting to know those I haven't. Moreover, I've learnt how to use our console (the online database that is provided by GSi that holds our runners info) and now fully understand what happens when our runners sign up.

Good time management is going to be essential this month. As much as I would love to fulfil every recruitment idea I have it's just not possible. As one of my colleagues said when I started in fundraising you have to spend your time on activities which will bring the most return (in this case sign ups), especially when doing something new. I'll have to schedule time to complete my new role as the key contact for the Edinburgh Marathon Festival runners and decide what will be the most effective form of communication.

And... a blog post of mine has been published on the Oxfam website! You can see it here.

My Mum & Dad came to visit this week. They liked my flat and much prefer the area to where I used to live in Liverpool. We had a lovely long 3 hour lunch and as Cate was with us spent most of the time talking about politics. I loved it! It's always good to have a debate especially when people have very different views on things. Plus, as Cate is a journalist she knows loads about Obama and has many interesting facts about Westminster. We also talked a lot about what I'm going to do after this internship finishes.

I've been thinking about my future and about when it'll be best to start applying for jobs. I think it's a constant dilema as an intern, particularly if your doing a 6-9 month one like I am. I've seen a couple of jobs that look amazing and will use the skills I've gained already but as much as people tell me I should take opportunities when I find them surely a potential employer won't be impressed by an intern whose prepared to leave a project before it's complete. I want to see my placement through to the end, I've invested too much time and learnt too much to walk away so I'll just have to keep fantasising about going on holiday. Then again it can take a while to find a new job, especially in a market that's being flooded by laid-off public sector workers, so I think I'm going to start searching and applying a few months before my placement finishes. What are other interns planning to do?

I haven't posted an opinion piece since my Giving Green Paper one so I'm going to work on one this week. Having said that I'm using this blog to document what an internship at Oxfam is like and what I've been up to - so I'm not going to worry too much if I haven't thought of anything to say. I've also changed the layout of the blog and added some pages for you to have a gander at.

I'm running for Oxfam!

I used to be a fitness freak. I was one of those girls at the gym who scorned the painted faces, push up bra and, "Oops did I just drop my weight? I'll just bend down to get it," brigade. Instead, I pushed myself on the cross trainer, got very excited when I could lift the amber weights on the machines and even braved the 'meat head' section. I loved exercise. I loved it so much that at one point I went to the gym everyday just for a quick jog and a sauna to unwind. That was until I got swine flu last year.

I spent 10 days feeling like death, delusional on the sofa with my equally delusional house mate for company/entertainment. After that I found I couldn't breathe deeply anymore. My GP said my chest muscles had been attacked by the virus and would heal. By the time I could breathe deeply again, I'd lost my fitness, could only lift green weights and generally didn't feel like exercising.

18 months later,  I can honestly say in the last 6 months I've only been for a run twice. One time I guilt tripped myself into going because my Uncle (who I was living with) was going to the gym and the other time because I'd just splurged £90 on running trainers.

So in an effort to get fit again, make use of the lovely pink & white running trainers and to better understand Oxfam runners I have signed up for the Bupa London 10,000 in May.

I am running for Oxfam. Feel free to join me or sponsor me. If you do I promise I'll keep running and I'll run a fast time!

Please sponsor me! :)

Determination is Everything

The Giving Green Paper - It's not all about the ATMs

Last week the Cabinet Office published the Giving Green Paper, which is intended to spark a debate and encourage suggestions of how social action can become a social norm. In the paper, the Cabinet Office (or rather Francis Maude MP) outline their and other contributor's ideas as to how this can be achieved and ask for contributions from community groups, charities, businesses and the public as a whole. However, if I had just stuck to reading the headlines and irate tweets I would still think the whole paper was produced to announce ATM giving as a new coalition policy. Instead, I decided to read the paper myself and it definitely isn't just about donating at cash machines.

The 1st paragraph outlines what the Big Society means - local people have greater control of their communities and thus rely on the Government less. Encouraging social action is one of the coalition's core ideas for achieving this - the others are empowering communities and opening up public services. Social action is defined as giving time and/or money to better your community and society as a whole. It could be volunteering at a local school, donating money to worthy cause or (in my case) walking elderly people home from Morrisons. The paper lists various ways to make giving time/money easier including apps, utilising search engines, social networking and yes donating at ATMs. (Although there is no mention of a Robin Hood Tax hmmm...) The problem now for the Cabinet Office, or for anyone who thinks this paper is innovative and has real value, is that the press have largely focussed on donation of money rather than time.

Having read various articles from our national press, I have to wonder if the press release issued by the Cabinet Office started with we want to encroach on social liberty by forcing people to donate at cash machines. Nearly every headline I have read about this paper include the words ATM or Cash Machine.

"Coalition to propose automatic charity donations at cash machines," published in the Guardian gives an overview of the paper's proposals to improve and encourage giving money (with a small mention of volunteering) and is worth a look if you don't want to read the paper. You can read it here

The Daily Mail were openly hostile "Charity cashpoints are blasted as Big Brother." Their view is that the British Public already donate and give enough time. Read it It's true that we are a nation that donate a lot of money to charity but it's also true that we are ranked 29th in the world at donating time according to the 2010 World Giving Index.

The majority of the comments below each article are from those against ATM giving and donating more money in general. Comments that do propose ways to promote giving of money and time are red-flagged, which is a real shame as it is those suggestions that the paper is looking for.

Personally, I think the report has some good and bad suggestions. Overall, having just started in the Voluntary Sector I find it exciting that the Government are looking to encourage social responsibility. Surely it's no bad thing to encourage people to volunteer at homeless shelters, schools and to look out for their neighbours (provided of course that this isn't simply an exercise to ensure they can make further cuts in the public sector).

In terms of donating at ATMs, I don't think it's a good idea. I think people tend to donate to charities that they relate to and charities work hard to promote what they do and what they stand for. If you donate at an ATM how can you be sure about what you are supporting. Realistically, as shown by The Colombian ATM scheme you would only be able to donate to a select number of charities (how would these be decided). Finally, although it would be a convenient way of donating, it won't be convenient for the queue of people who are stood waiting behind you at the cashpoint!

I think The Pennies Foundation approach is better. They propose that at selected retailers you could round up your bill to the nearest pound and the extra pennies will be donated to a charity nominated by the retailer. So if your food shopping came up to £27.68 you could pay £28 and donate the 32p to charity. I can see this catching on. Retailers have space to display information about their chosen charity, different retailers would choose different charities (for example I imagine a womenswear store would choose a charity that benefits women), its a small amount and its already being utilised by charities such as the NSPCC and Cancer Research UK.

It makes many suggestions for improving volunteering and it seems to me that giving time is the focus of the paper rather than money. The Cabinet Office argue that volunteering is not a one way street and that volunteers should gain something in return. It points to Orange Rock Corps as and example of this. I agree, at the moment I am volunteering for Oxfam but in return I am gaining valuable experience. It goes on to say that volunteering doesn't have to be rewarded in gig tickets but can be rewarded by publicly acknowledging volunteers. There is a specific focus on finding ways to encourage young people to volunteer through social networking and National Citizen Service. They also want to help eliminate barriers to volunteering such as multiple CRB checks, over the top Health and Safety and lack of transparency from charities over where monetary donations go. I think these are all brilliant ideas.

So why the hostility from the media?

It's partly down to timing. We're in a recession, the VAT is going up 2.5% and massive cuts have been announced. I think a lot of people will feel that they can't give money and that by encouraging volunteering in the Public Sector the Government are making up for the cuts. It also worded badly. They consistently say "giving" without outlining what they mean. Often they appear to mean volunteering but by saying "giving" instead it promotes donations.

I don't agree with everything in the Giving Green Paper (and these are my views not Oxfam GB's) but that's the point - they wanted to start a debate and they have. It's just a shame that the media seem to have focussed on only one aspect of the report.

If you want to read it yourself click here

For anyone interested in Corporate Fundraising there is a good section in it for you.

Or if you want to make a suggestion email giving@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk