Summer of 2022 saw eight HBA students take on placements as part of the Ivey Connects and Canada Life Community Internship Program. The program is designed to give HBA business students greater awareness of how the community sector operates by giving them an opportunity to work over the summer for a not-for-profit organization.
The Non-profit organizations (NPOs) receive funding from Canada life, to cover student salaries and gain access to a pool of HBA students. In return, organizations must identify the tasks and projects that students will work on and why the internship will be a meaningful learning experience.
This year’s organizations included: Leads Employment Services, AgScape, ReForest London, LEAP, MaRS Discovery District, ESWO, Upside Foundation, and Urban Roots.
Learn more about the experience of the program through both intern and organization participants below:
Valerie Ah-Yen, AgScape
Valerie spent her summer as a marketing and communications intern at AgScape, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating youth about agriculture and food literacy. At Ivey Connects’ annual networking event, she quickly became immersed into their mission and was thrilled with the opportunity to drive positive impact alongside AgScape.
This summer, AgScape was eager to gain a fresh perspective on their current marketing strategy and wanted to discover new methods of driving traffic onto their social media platforms and website. Valerie was responsible for developing a social media campaign from start to finish, aimed towards building AgScape’s brand awareness on social media through stronger engagement and reach.
Valerie’s campaign pivoted AgScape’s current marketing strategy to showcase their value by leveraging existing resources to create informative content for users. Upon development, Valerie consulted with the programming, resources, and projects team to identify shared goals and how to create value across the organization. Additionally, she collaborated across the industry through seven partnerships to strengthen AgScape’s relationships and to increase brand reputation. This campaign succeeded in tripling the amount of non-follower accounts reached and doubling social media engagement. These results indicated stronger social media visibility, audience growth, and public engagement.
Valerie gained project management skills from spearheading her own campaign from start to finish, while also learning about the importance of agriculture literacy and food skills. She is extremely proud to have spent her summer contributing to AgScape’s impactful mission and grateful for all the support she received from within the organization and across the industry.
Rachel Bai, Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario
Rachel first got involved with Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario (ESWO) as a volunteer with their Game On physical literacy program a few years ago. She came back this summer in a fundraising consultant role.
ESWO is a charity dedicated to enhancing the lives of people who are affected by epilepsy and seizures through support services, education, advocacy and community awareness. Like most, the pandemic had a devastating impact on the agency’s financials, and as part of their strategic planning process, they were looking to diversify revenue streams and develop a formal fundraising plan. During her time with ESWO, Rachel completed an analysis on the current revenue streams and identified a few donor management tools that would help to streamline the agency’s fundraising processes. After meeting with the donor management platforms, Rachel put forth a recommendation for ESWO on a platform that would host all of their needs.
Rachel also compared previous in-person, virtual and hybrid events completed by the agency over the last few years and made recommendations on areas that the agency could focus their future efforts. The groundwork she completed this summer will allow ESWO to continue their fundraising plan in the months to come.
"It was lovely to work with Rachel over the summer thanks to Canada Life’s program funding. Rachel’s work has helped us focus our strategic planning efforts and fundraising directions. As a small agency without government funding, ensuring we have a diverse revenue stream will allow us to continue to provide support and education to individuals, families and their communities affected by epilepsy. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with Rachel!" – Michelle Franklin, Chief Executive Officer, Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario
Applications are now open - visit Ivey Connects for more information.
The Canada Life and Ivey Connects internship program would not be possible without the generous support of Canada Life and the hardworking students of Ivey Connects that collect, review, and accept applications from interested organizations.