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• Charity business development coordinator: Bhavya

Charity business development coordinator: Bhavya

This Case Study belongs to Charity officer.

Bhavya gained her degree in environment and development from King’s College London and now works within the charity sector as a business development coordinator for the ‘Employment Opportunities’ charity.

I was always interested in working in the development sector, which mainly consists of third sector organisations. I initially approached a job agency dedicated to the third sector and was offered the opportunity to join my current employer as a temporary hire. My role was later converted to a permanent job.

In order to be successful in this kind of work, you need to be keen, be able to take initiative and be willing to take on more responsibility. It is also essential to be hands on and involved in various activities.

My degree helped me develop extensive research and writing skills. I also did internships during my graduate degree which helped towards work experience within the development sector and greatly enhanced my CV. The actual subject of my degree was not really relevant to my current job, but the skills it gave me, along with my internship experience, certainly helped.

My role has evolved and grown in the last two years. I have been given more and more responsibility and have moved onto higher levels quite rapidly. The role is extremely integral to the work of the team. I have various responsibilities in my day-to-day work which include bid writing, researching, and budgeting. I am also heavily involved in networking and partner relations, administrative duties and developing marketing material. I am also the central coordinator of processes and procedures for the business development function, and I control all documents.

I really enjoy the teamwork involved in my job along with the opportunity to develop multiple skills and networking and working with people from different backgrounds. The less enjoyable aspects are definitely the administrative duties and having to cold call to introduce the organisation to others when trying to find partners and other avenues of funding. In the future, I hope to progress into doing research in India.

Case Study sourced by Mary Goudge of Imperial College London, 07 April 2009.