Our not-for-profit projects allow our students to work with external partners on projects important to their organisation. Up to twelve projects are being offered this year with Leaders in Community, ReachOut UK and the Institute of Directors.
Leaders in Community
Leaders in Community (LiC) is a youth-led charity that was established by a group of young adults wanting to improve their local services. The charity delivers a number of programmes aimed at empowering local citizens and youth. These programmes are delivered throughout the year and are free for local young people.
ReachOut UK
ReachOut UK is a mentoring charity located in nearby Hackney that works with young people from disadvantaged communities to raise aspirations and help them grow in character and attainment.
The Institute of Directors
The Institute of Directors (IoD) represents over 30,000 business leaders in the UK, offering its members a range of resources including access to business information, training, professional expertise, networking and working space. IoD also offers university student memberships, giving students the opportunity to hear and meet elite speakers and thought leaders from the highest levels of government and business, making valuable connections and developing a portfolio of tools for their future careers.
Projects offered
The Bee Education Centre works with local residents and young people to help increase and protect the bee population in East London. This team will work with volunteer beekeepers to develop communications material promoting the new Children’s Bee Centre and to support the launch of the 2020 learning course. You will design and implement a course promotion package, track the progress of recruitment and produce a final report to show the impact of the campaign. You will develop a variety of skills, including project management, communications, working with new people and teamwork, and support our recruitment strategy and project development.
LiC staff partner: Momtaz Ajid, Chief Executive Officer.
The Teviot Centre is an underused local community asset. LiC wishes to increase our service offer and develop the Centre as a community excellence hub, which will include services for youth, the elderly and for families. This team will work with the Centre staff to create a strategy to encourage local residents to use the Centre regularly and engage with the programme of activities we will run. You will gain experience in business planning, networking and communication and track the impact of your activities in a final report.
LiC staff partner: Syed Uddin, Head of Operations.
Be.Inspired is our core leadership program for girls aged 13-15 who meet on Tuesday afternoons on a drop-in basis at our community space. This team will devise a three month learning module that ensures the girls are receiving a program with set learning outcomes. You will work with project staff to create a week-to-week activity plan linked to the charity’s outcome module which will include campaigns to ensure girls are gaining empowerment opportunities. In this project you will develop a variety of skills, including project planning, leadership, networking and research skills and your work will ensure we are developing our young leaders according to their needs.
This team will work closely with LiC's fundraising officer on a Lottery Grant funding proposal: ‘Reaching Communities’. This will include gathering feedback across their services and the wider community and collating a collection of testimonials. You will contribute to the design of project plans to be included in the final grant application and produce a data report on your findings. This project will develop your research and analytical skills, and you will be contributing to the production of a funding application to support LiC's fundraising.
LiC staff partner: Suna Ramadan, Fundraising Officer.
Be.Social is a youth social action programme providing guidance to young people (age 11-14) wanting to make change in their community. This programme will be relaunched in 2020 as a series of weekly workshops to educate about the benefits of social action and to encourage young people to get involved (such as through volunteering, fundraising or community campaigning). This team will consult with the current users and create a learning activity program that explores these themes. In this project you will develop project planning, public speaking and group work skills, and gather user feedback that will contribute to the development of the 2020 project and help LiC build on their reputation.
As a youth sector charity, it is important that LiC remains dynamic to reach as many beneficiaries as possible. They engage with service users through social media channels and their website, but are looking to enhance their strategy to be more effective. This team will collect feedback from social media users, devise a digital content strategy, and aim to produce a short clip to promote the services online. Through this project you will develop research, teamwork and communication skills to develop stakeholder engagement and help LiC reach a wider network of young people.
LiC staff partner: Sergei Wicking, Marketing Officer.
LiC are looking to increase engagement with two local secondary schools (Langdon Park and Bow School) so young people are aware of the various leadership/social action activities they offer. You will work with the marketing team to develop two or three school visits and make the pitch to assemblies to help promote LiC projects and track the impact of your visits on engagement. This project will develop your understanding of LiC’s work and its impact on young people. You will also learn effective communication skills and making a pitch, marketing, team management and leadership skills and your work will help LiC create an outreach strategy specific to various age groups that need it most.
ReachOut is looking to broaden their reach and support of young people after they finish primary school, so that they can continue to succeed and reach their potential. They would like to know what type and format of continuous support their mentees would like, and whether mentors would be interested in providing further support. Your team will develop and carry out qualitative and quantitative research and produce a report with your recommendations on how ReachOut can develop as a networking organisation.
ReachOut UK staff partner: Grusche Michelsen, Director of People.
As an organisation, ReachOut wishes to continue developing their team’s knowledge in particular areas relevant to their charity work (such as character education, refugees, youth employability). Your team will identify areas of knowledge that their staff need and you will become their resident experts in these areas. You will deliver presentations to the ReachOut team and write a report with your recommendations on how individual staff can stay updated and pass on knowledge to other staff. You will develop research, data analysis and presentation skills and contribute to the expert knowledge base of our staff.
This team will develop a campaign to improve awareness of student membership of the IoD and invite students to sign up. You will plan and carry out research and design and implement a social media campaign based on your findings. You will develop research, data analysis and teamwork skills in this project.
Institute of Directors staff partner: Joe Fitzsimons, Student Membership Manager and Lauren Hopson, Student Membership Administrator.
This team will review the current Student Membership marketing approach. You will plan and conduct research, surveying current student members and undertake external research to review student member engagement. Based on your analysis, you will make recommendations for how the IoD can develop its marketing strategy. Through this project, you will develop teamwork, communication, and research and data analysis skills.
This team will conduct research into the gap between student members signing up as full members. You will develop and carry out research with current members and provide recommendations for how the IoD might reduce this gap. You will develop communication, teamwork and research and data analysis skills.
Institute of Directors Staff partner: Joe Fitzsimons, Student Membership Manager and Lauren Hopson, Student Membership Administrator.