Problem Solved! Macquarie Interns Shine Again

July and August saw the second Consultancy Sprint Challenge programme with Macquarie Group’s summer interns, following the success last year (2021).

Teams of volunteers – interns supported by Macquarie employees – went up against each other to come up with the best solutions to strategic challenges put forward by community organisations. Unlike last year which saw a range of challenges (HR, social media and income generation), this year they were all focused on raising funds and generating additional income. This isn’t surprising, considering the dependency on, and the current high competition for, grants in the charity sector.

The volunteers spent an hour learning about the community sector, the community organisation they were matched with and the challenge faced by them. They then had just two hours to come up with a feasible and realistic plan for overcoming the challenge which could be used by the organisation thereafter.

The four community organisations that took part in the Sprint Challenge were Head Held High, Choices CIC, Hillside Clubhouse and Cubitt Artists.

In two hours, the volunteers came up with catchy campaign titles, ideas for use of social media and ways of attracting engagement, they created project timelines, and identified potential partnerships with educational organisations, corporates as well as other community organisations.

“It was a very enjoyable and insightful experience, thank you for this opportunity.” - wrote one of the Macquarie volunteers about the session.

Both BIG Alliance and the participating organisations were highly impressed not only by the research the teams carried out but also the solutions they came up with, considering the little time the teams had to work on them. The community organisations left the sessions feeling inspired and energised, and couldn’t wait to start implementing elements of the suggestions put forward by the teams!

“We got some really useful and practical ideas from the volunteers and will definitely use the suggested solutions.”– said Hillside Clubhouse about their experience during the workshop.

We wish the interns best of luck in their final year of university, and hope that they – as well as Macquarie business volunteers – feel inspired to support community organisations in the future!

You can read the full report on the programme here.