Author: Alhasan Al-Habib

Week Four at the KCF: Liaisons, Leaflets and Lunch

My final week at the foundation was unfortunately disrupted by acute tonsillitis, meaning I had to stay at home some time to rest, before moving on to being able to work some hours from home and then finally returning to work in the office.

In this week I returned to a project given to me by one of the Trustees during my arrival. This was to compile a spreadsheet containing information about some of the wealthiest millionaires and billionaires within the borough, particularly with regards to whether or not some of them might have charitable foundations in their name to which the foundation may be able to apply for support. This was, ultimately, a process I didn’t manage to complete (perhaps something I should have expected considering the vast wealth of some of the borough’s inhabitants) but I did manage to shed some light on the somewhat surprisingly numerous and extensive charitable endeavours and organisations some of the borough’s wealthiest support.

To aid in the process I’ve just described, I met up with the former Director of the Foundation (who actually organised my internship) to discuss if there were any contacts or information she could give me to include in my spreadsheets about residents within the borough. Meeting with her at her new office in Somerset House was a useful experience, both in terms of the work I was doing and also making me realise the importance of knowing people and having an abundance of contacts in the Charities/Not-for-Profit sector. She also gave me some useful advice as to the best tactics to employ when approaching people like this to support the Foundation, as well as how best to ask them and, indeed, what to ask them for. Experience in this field can be priceless, especially as you rarely get more than one chance with this sort of endeavour.

My final task was to analyse the leaflet the Foundation produced last year for their “Winter Warmth” campaign. Here they ask residents over 60 who don’t need their Winter Fuel allowance to donate it into a fund so that it can be used to support those who are in danger of falling into fuel poverty. This was an interesting exercise, reminiscent of some English Language exams I had sat in my school years. I analysed the leaflet’s use of language, how it made the reader felt, as well as looking at the clarity of the message being conveyed, the structure and branding as well as the aesthetics of the publication. I then tried to critique it, and highlight areas that could be improved, such as the apparent ambiguity (it wasn’t clear exactly what the reader was being asked to do).

On the last day, the new director took us out to an enjoyable lunch together, and I had an opportunity to reflect on all I’d learnt and done over the past month. I had been given an insight into the heart of a charitable organisation, into what life is like on a daily basis, into the stresses and strains but ultimately sweetness of success when you achieve something that will make the lives of the disadvantaged better. I’ve had a great time, learning huge amounts, doing much and meeting some very friendly and helpful colleagues. I would hope reading this blog has helped convince someone to undergo the same internship, maybe even at the same organisation. It would be great for it to benefit another student as much as it has me.

Week Three at the KCF: Media, Meetings and Messengers

If you’re working hard with your head down and without time to look up, time flies by, something I have been reminded of this week. One of the first tasks assigned to me by the new Director was to modify a document used by her previous charity to act as a form of agreement with high profile supporters, detailing exactly what the Foundation would require of them as well as what they would expect of us. This helps clarify the potential relationship, making things unambiguous and clear, therefore reducing the chance of disagreement and disappointments on either side. It also gives the request a sense of professionalism and makes it easier for the prospect in question to say yes and agree to help get the Foundation’s message across to people.

Now that all 6 of the other staff have returned from holiday, Susan held her first team meeting, where all of us (including myself) had to provide an “Employee Profile”, detailing our role in the organisation (so she could plan future tasks to be delegated in projects) as well as what we were trying to do at the moment. This also helps to avoid “grey” areas of responsibility, whereby more people than are necessary for the completion of a task/project may be working on it, or indeed there isn’t anyone working on something that needs to be done. There was also a discussion as to how progress was going to be communicated to the board of trustees effectively, as well as a potential change in marketing strategy; Susan prefers a more “personal” approach, highlighting the Foundation’s work on a personal level, rather than blanket statistics and dull, lifeless imagery (perhaps something the Foundation has been guilty of in the past).

Meanwhile I’ve been designated another project, which is to compile information from various sources (emails, multiple spreadsheets etc) about all the different local media outlets in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, so as to provide a way of generating publicity for the Foundation’s work and future events. This involves removing some publications from our database (a sizeable number have become defunct and folded, for various reasons), establishing who, if anyone, is our point of contact within the publication, assessing editor deadlines, distribution and readership as well as analysing if there is a section within the media for editorial content relevant to us. For such a relatively small area there seems to be abundance of newspapers and magazines covering it!

 

Week Two at the KCF: Leadership, Alan Johnson MP and the Daily Mail

This week heralded the arrival of our new Director, Susan Dolton, who arrives with a wealth of experience having been director at the Charity “Help Musicians UK”. Fortunately for me, she has shown a great interest in my interning at the Foundation, and has already suggested a number of new projects I could pursue whilst working here. I’ve also realised she’s a shrewd manager and extremely competent leader; it’s amazing the effect it can have on a team’s productivity when the person in charge displays a genuine interest in what you’re doing, an effect I’ve noticed first hand in myself. She gives praise where and when it’s due, yet is unafraid of criticising elements of the Foundation whilst always remaining assertive and constructive. She’s also demonstrated an ambitious outlook for the Foundation, which I think is so important, since it would be such a shame for it to stagnate now considering how far it has come. I feel like I can learn a lot simply by observing how she leads a team.

We’ve had meeting with regards to progress of the organisation of the Foundation’s biggest event: its annual celebration, this year held at the V&A and featuring Kirsty Lang interviewing Alan Johnson MP. When organising such a large event, it’s critical everyone has an idea of what everyone else is doing, whilst ensuring they complete their own objectives. I’m beginning to appreciate the complexities of its organisation, ranging from deciding who and how to invite people and charities, how much people should be charged, logistics, catering, contingency plans, volunteer requirements, marketing etc.

This week was also when I realised the true vastness of the challenge of cataloging the borough’s enormity of celebrity talent. The original list, sparse in detail and numbering less than 25, has more than doubled in quantity and been greatly embellished, and yet I know I have barely scratched the surface. I’ve been using the Electoral Roll to try and gain information about whether or not the prospects still live in the borough, whilst also analysing the philanthropic tendencies of the prospects, to see if any of them chime in with causes the Foundation allies itself with. This information will also help form how we as a Foundation eventually approach them. The good news is that the Foundation supports a vast array of causes within the borough, so theoretically there should be something for everyone. As part of my mission to find out as much relevant information as possible about these celebrities, I’ve had to sift through pages and pages of tabloid interviews and articles, especially the Daily Mail.

The things I do for charity…

Week One at the KCF: Social Inequality, Microsoft Excel and Madonna

The Kensington & Chelsea Foundation is a charity which works to raise awareness of the harsh socio-economic contrasts that exist within the borough, and to help residents support local charities and community groups by championing the work of small charities. Essentially, the Foundation wants to make the borough a place where no one is held back by a lack of opportunity, a community where people and organisations work together to improve the lives of its most vulnerable members.

The foundation provides advice and guidance to residents, schools and businesses that want to become more engaged in their community. They also work to initiate campaigns to target specific needs. For example, in April they organised “The Right Royal Ride”, a bike ride in support of local mental health and well-being charities (which was attended, unexpectedly, by the Beckham family).

I arrived at the Foundation at a time of transition, with the old Director (Diana Spiegelberg, who was an invaluable help during the application process and without whom this internship would have been impossible) leaving, and her replacement not arriving until I’m halfway through my time here. Nonetheless the foundation have been very helpful in guiding and directing me, with a trustee being assigned to me to describe in detail my project and help me along the way.

My major project on this internship is to establish contact and market the Foundation to high profile people that live locally, with the eventual goal of convincing them to support (in potential ways I’ll describe in future posts) the foundation. From Madonna to Hugh Grant to Stella McCartney, if they live in the borough, I need to research them, gain as much information about them as I can and assess the likelihood of them being receptive to the Foundation’s objectives.

For now, I’m going through countless emails and the Foundation’s database, as well as newspapers, electoral rolls, interviews, Wikipedia and various trustee/staff contacts to generate as much data as possible regarding these high profile prospects, compiling it all into a Excel spreadsheet. Once I’m done, I can move on to assessing the possible routes the Foundation can use to get into contact with these prospects, as well as our method of approach, something I’ll go into in future blog posts.