Internship - Learning and support partner for the National Lottery Community Fund's Climate Action Fund

About the role

Innovation Unit is a not-for-profit social enterprise. Our mission is to reduce inequalities and transform systems by growing people-powered innovations. We want to see a world where all people belong and contribute to thriving societies on a flourishing planet and have been designing and scaling innovative solutions to social challenges for 20 years, alongside partners who share our values and ambition for change. 

We are looking for an intern to join our team and support our work as the Learning and Support partner for the National Lottery Community Fund's Climate Action Fund. Read about the project on The National Lottery Community Fund's website here, and on the Innovation Unit's website here.

This is an opportunity to gain experience co-ordinating and delivering a programme of support to community-led climate action projects across the UK. The role will be varied, and you'll be involved in three main areas:

• Supporting the planning and delivery of the annual Climate Action Fund Festival – an in-person event bringing together more than 200 people to celebrate and learn from community-centred climate action.
   
• Helping to develop an online directory of Climate Action Fund projects, making it easier for grant holders to find one another, connect, and share learning.
   
• Coordinating a programme of online learning and support activities for Climate Action Fund grant holders.
   

Time commitment and location

• Approximately 3 days per week (22.5 hours) for 10 weeks.
   
• We're happy to be flexible about how these hours are arranged and can spread the placement over a longer period to fit around other commitments such as childcare, study, work or caring responsibilities.
   
• We'd ideally like someone based in or near Greater Manchester, or able to travel to our office on Wednesdays. The remainder of your time will be spent working from home.
   
• This is a paid internship and will be paid at the Real Living Wage.
   
• The preferred start date is the week commencing 14 September.
   
• You'll need to be able to travel to Leeds for the in-person festival on 5th November.
   

Who we're looking for

You don't need to have followed a particular education or career path to apply. We know that valuable skills and experience can come from many places — including lived experiences, community organising, volunteering, caring responsibilities, creative projects, activism, work experience, hobbies, or supporting others. 

You might be a good fit if you:

• Have experience of, or an interest in, planning and organising events.
   
• Enjoy creating or improving online resources, tools or spaces that help people connect and collaborate.
   
• Have experience of, or an interest in communications, design or creative work, (think promotional materials, social media posts, or speaker profiles)
   
• Feel comfortable using Microsoft Office tools such as Word, Excel and Forms, or are willing to learn.
   
• Are interested in social impact, climate action and/or the voluntary and community sector.
   
• Are proactive and happy working both independently and as part of a team, remotely and in person.

We don't expect anyone to meet every point on this list, so if this role interests you, we'd encourage you to apply.
 

Application process

To apply, please send us either:

• A written response of around 200 words, or
• A video of up to two minutes - this can be done on a phone or laptop

responding to each of the following questions:

1. What interests you about this role and the work?
2. What skills, experiences or perspectives would you bring?
3. Is there a particular area of the role that you think you'd enjoy contributing to and why?

(Your completed application should look like 3 written or video responses to the above questions.)

You are also welcome, but not required, to include a CV, personal statement or link to your LinkedIn profile.

Note: For video responses, where the file is too big to share via email, you may wish to use a free file-sharing platform such as Google Drive, OneDrive, WeTransfer, Dropbox. Please ensure the sharing settings allow anyone with the link to view/download the file.

Please send your application to nadia.horacio@innovationunit.org

What happens next?

If it seems like we could be a good fit for each other, we'll invite you to a short, informal phone call to introduce ourselves and get to know one another a little better (week commencing 10th August).

After the short conversation we might invite you to a longer conversation, online or in person, to explore the role, your interests, and any questions you might have (week commencing 17th August).

If you have any questions about the role or the application process, please reach out to nadia.horacio@innovationunit.org