The Value of Charity Apprenticeships

Have you got a skills gap at your charity? Or do you need some extra resource in certain areas? It might be time to consider taking on an apprentice – it costs a lot less than you think. Lavinia Mitton, Alex Heavens and Sam Scott from University of Kent shared their experiences of charity apprenticeships in fundraising and the benefits to their work.

How to employ an apprentice at a charity

Lavinia Mitton

Lavinia Mitton, Course Lead for the Social Research Degree Apprenticeship & Policy Officer Higher Apprenticeship explained how and why a charity would go about employing an apprentice.

“It’s not just traditional industries or large organisations that are choosing apprenticeships nowadays. Apprenticeships are a way to train employees, helping charities adapt to changing skills needs in areas like digital marketing, fundraising or social research. 

Apprentices are primarily your employees, so you have to pay them a wage, but they receive government-funded training through the apprenticeship levy system, which significantly offsets the cost. If you’re a large charity that pays the apprenticeship levy, you can use those funds to cover training costs. But if you’re a smaller charity that doesn’t, the government will cover 95% of the training costs, and you’ll need to pay only 5%. Alternatively, you can look for organisations that can transfer unused levy funds to you to cover 100% of the costs. 

The first step to employing an apprentice is to identify your skills gaps. You also need to decide whether you want to hire a new apprentice or develop an existing employee through an apprenticeship. You can choose someone who has interned with you, or an existing employee looking to shift roles, and there’s no age limit. 

Next, use the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) website to check whether there’s an apprenticeship standard that fits with your need, such as Charity Fundraiser Level 3. You’ll need to choose a partner apprenticeship training provider, such as a university or college, to deliver the formal learning side of the apprenticeship. You can then recruit your apprentice!

Once the apprentice has joined you, you’ll need to give them sufficient time to attend their training sessions, typically six hours a week. It’s also essential to provide them a work-based mentor. Since they are trainees, apprentices will need supervision and guidance in the workplace. 

What are the benefits of an apprenticeship?

“Training providers, like universities or colleges, often handle a large portion of the paperwork and compliance requirements. They also take responsibility for structured formal learning, leaving charities to focus on practical, job-specific coaching. So, although you will need to make some initial time investment, as apprentices learn on the job, they can contribute to your work right from the start, whilst at the same time gaining the skills your charity needs.

Charity apprenticeships can be a way to build a more diverse and inclusive workforce by providing a route in for people who have potential but not the right qualifications.  

For many charities, taking on apprentices and giving individuals the chance to gain meaningful employment and develop their careers fits their organisation’s purpose and values.”

Filling gaps in skills

Alex Heavens, Fundraising Researcher, shared his experiences of working towards a Charity Fundraiser Level 3 charity apprenticeship.

Alex Heavens

“The Charity Fundraiser apprenticeship seemed to be a great opportunity to develop my career in a more formal manner. I’ve been working in fundraising-adjacent roles for a few years and while I have undergraduate and master’s degrees, I have no formal qualifications in fundraising. I’ve developed a good amount of competence in my role, but there were some significant gaps in knowledge and experience which I knew were holding me back. So to have the opportunity to fill those gaps, learning from experts and meeting a cohort of students like me was really compelling. 

Alongside my usual duties in prospect research, the apprenticeship has enabled me to take on responsibilities where I can use my learning. For example: running an event (putting into practice all the instruction on project management, budget allocation etc.) and taking a more active role in planning fundraising campaigns (making use of the work we’ve done in seminars on fundraising plans and market research). 

It’s really helped in filling my knowledge gaps. Since most people learn fundraising on the job, it’s quite common for your knowledge to be skewed by the processes and emphases of your organisation. If your charity’s focus is major gifts, it’s natural that you develop a knowledge gap around, for example, regular giving programmes. The apprenticeship is invaluable in giving a much wider view of the fundraising profession, and how each discipline complements each other. It’s been really rewarding to learn so much in a relatively short period.” 

A grounding in fundraising principles

Sam Scott, Philanthropy Manager and Alex’s line manager, told us how employing an apprentice has benefited her team.

Sam Scott

“We were invited by the Centre for Philanthropy at the university to take up an apprenticeship in our department. We thought it was a brilliant idea as it would give a team member that experience and learning. Alex in our team was at an ideal point in his career development and was eager to embrace the opportunity.

Alex has always been a great colleague. He’s a very good prospect researcher, calm, well organised; a dynamic part of our busy team. The apprenticeship has offered him a grounding in fundraising principles which I know he has valued. It has also presented a framework to develop in other areas, such as presenting to a group, managing an event and budgeting.  

Enabling Alex to develop in areas beyond his normal role has brought great advantages to our team and work. For example, he lead on budget and planning for a Christmas event, meaning that he both diversified his skillset and freed up capacity from elsewhere in the team. He has also been able to question and improve some of our processes. His understanding, curiosity and input into the wider work of our department has blossomed and therefore benefited our working processes.  

It’s worth factoring in the supervision required, mainly through signing-off forms and attending progress meetings, but overall, observing Alex growing in knowledge and confidence has been a real positive for the organisation, and a pleasure. 

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend charity apprenticeships. It’s a great way to help develop a person and their skillset, at the same time as benefiting your function with a pair of capable hands and a fresh look at processes and procedures.” 

Ready to recruit for charity apprenticeships? Post a job today.