DEBRA

During my internship, my confidence in my creative and communicative skills greatly

increased. Writing copy, informational campaigns, and personal messages for a wide variety

of stakeholders and on a wide range of platforms (from Medium to Handshake to

Eventbrite) has increased the range of my professional writing experience. I also learned (at

least partly through mistakes) some important new lessons about video and website design

and marketing through the web. These skills and experience will stand me in good stead

when it comes to applying to creative and communication roles in the future.

Because of DataEthics4Alls diverse fields of operations, I have also learned more about the

fields of AI, data ethics, education activism, and recruitment. I would particularly

recommend this internship experience to anyone interested in charitable work and activist

enterprise, but also to anyone interested in social sustainability, technology, and - of course

- data ethics.

Third Year Undergraduate (of a four year course), BA Litterae Humaniores, A mixture of in-person and remote working

Work Projects

I worked as a Fundraising Intern at DEBRA over the summer vacation for a month. DEBRA is

a charity that helps people live with EB, an incurable skin condition that causes blistering

and pain; DEBRA also hopes to eventually find a cure for this disease. As a fundraising

intern, my job was to research potential major donors (people likely to give over 5000) and

see if they had the propensity, and ability to donate such a sum. As such, the job entailed

gathering qualitative and quantitative data and formatting it so that it would be easy to read

for the head fundraisers.

I also had to make reports on potential corporate donors, and research restaurants that

would give DEBRA discount meals for auction. In this, I was heavily supported by DEBRAs

head of fundraising, Hugh, who also introduced me to various members of the DEBRA,

including its CEO, and heads of HR and customer support, which not only gave me

connections, but also allowed me to speak to people, whose career path I might want to

follow, and as such they gave me career advice along the way.

By the end of the internship, I felt that I had gained a good insight into not only fundraising

but also how a charity functioned, which was aided by the size of DEBRA, just small enough

such that I could meet the whole team, just large enough such that it functioned as a major

charity.

Daily Life

This internship had a mix of in person and online working. As such, I went in for the first day,

and once a week for three more weeks; and worked online for the rest of the time. When I

first went in, I was introduced by the friendly head of fundraising, as well as to the other

intern there. As such I felt I settled quickly. Work was set always on the days on which I

went into the Bracknell office. I was given a large list of potential major donors, and the

head of fundraising told me a bit about each of the names on the list, before asking me to

research them all further and make a report on each one of them, of about 700-1500 words.

I soon settled into the rhythm of this work.

In the second week, I met the head of corporate fundraising, Jenny, online, and she asked

me to research several corporations too. The third week, whilst continuing researching the

major donors, I met Andrew, another fundraiser, who also set me a few more major donors

to research. By the fourth week, I needed little help and worked fairly independently in the

office, with no new work set. On two of the days I went into the office, I was set up with one

on one meetings with various members from inside the company which proved invaluable.

Outside working hours, I went home and stayed with my family.

Lasting Impressions

I did enjoy the internship, and felt that I gained a valuable insight into the world of

philanthropy, learning more about the motivations of philanthropists, as well as the

functioning of the charity. Of particular use was the meeting with DEBRAs CEO, who advised

me to do a law or accountancy degree next, since this was the easiest way into the