Lauren Searchfield

Marketing Internship 4940

Summer C
2022
II.
Mercy Full Project, nonprofit 501©3 animal rescue.
I worked a total of 120 hours.
The type of work included grant writing, social media marketing and event planning and
promotion.
Grant writing consisted of researching grants, understanding the grants requirements, writing the
grant narrative, filling out the required information and then submitting the grant. This used a lot
of internal information about the organization and its income, spending and banking.
Social media marketing consisted of posting adoptable dogs consistently in a way that
highlighted them for adoption. Essentially marketing these dogs in a way that people would
become interested in them without meeting them. Taking nice photos of the animals, coaching
fosters on how to take nice photos and give enough information for a bio. Replying to Instagram
and Facebook commentors which could be questions or just comments of admiration. Making
connections with other animal rescues through social media to utilize our platforms to make a
difference.
Event planning and promotion did not consist of as much outreach as I thought as most event
planners reached out to me first. I was to organize a call with the event coordinators, make a plan
for the event and explain what we could bring to the event. Usually that was puppies! I had to
make sure there was a safe, indoor space to bring dogs and make sure the event was worthwhile
to the organization. Events that are worthwhile either bring donations or adoptions. The
promotion of these events started on Canva by making a flyer, posting the flyer on social media
and using the adoption team to flood the event with potential adopters. Potential adopters for
puppies would be told that the meet and greet would be held at the event so that we brought
people in the door while simultaneously getting out job done which is finding homes for the
animals.

The size of company is small and there are only 5 employees.

III.
The three skills I have learned as a result of my internship are Professional, Persuasive and Grant
Writing, Public Speaking and People Management.
Professional and Persuasive Writing in the form of Grant Writing
I was first introduced to grant writing at Mercy Full Animal Shelter during my internship. Grant
writing is certainly an acquired skill through professional and persuasive writing, and thankfully
the owner took me through the general process to help fast track my development. Typically,
grant writing follows a structured process where the more grant applications you do, generally
the better you become at the process.
The first aspect of grant writing was spending significant time researching grants online. I found
there were many possible ways to find these potential grants but ultimately the quickest being a
fee-based databases which allow a person such as myself to better home in the appropriate grants
which may be available for Mercy Full. It was also possible to do this through web-based
searches which was a cheaper option, but I found this to be much more time consuming and
certainly less time efficient. The owner also showed me specific sites or organizations she
usually used to apply which certainly was a significant help to me.
Secondly, once I found what appeared to be suitable grants, I would contact the person listed by
either email or directly phoning them if the number was published. This step I found very
important as it was the step at which I was able to discuss if Mercy Full was a suitable fit, met
the appropriate metrics and/or I could clarify specific questions I had on the grant. I also found
several foundations were very specific about non contacting them and sending a written
proposal. This certainly was a more time-consuming process because I could not seek the
clarifications on Mercy Full Projects actual fit for the grant because often the site was not clear
on a number of key points that I would usually have sought clarification with the direct contact.
Once I found suitable grants, the harder part of the process and where I certainly appreciated
having the owner who had previously completed many grants, because the information many
organizations or foundations required was readily available from previous submissions. The
difficult aspect of this process was writing when the specific information required for the grant
was not readily available. Mercy Full relies predominately on volunteers and so much
information is in the heads of current and past volunteers. The filing system at Mercy Full was
also challenge as several volunteers do this task and at times their approach to filing was not
consistent and still paper based. I saw this as an area for significant improvement and I
implemented a more structured approach with checklists to improve the consistency of this
process and developed a simple electronic database to help move away from the traditional
paper-based filing.
I also found many of the requirements for the grant submissions to be rather variable as
submissions were required by using online submission in a structured manner on the website or a
short 1- or 2-page submission sent as an attachment or a requirement for a more detailed 4–6-
page narrative submitted either electronically or through the mail. The owner explained to me
that the follow up process was very important, as it also showed that Mercy Full was keen to be
considered. The difficulty I found was that several organizations or foundation did not list any
direct contact, only a generalized email. I also found those organizations or foundations with no
direct contact where typically much slower to respond to my submission, as I could not establish
that important 1 on 1 relationship with a ‘real’ person.
Understanding the grant writing and submission process was a skill I was keen to land and a skill
I will continue to use post my internship. Should Mercy Full now be successful in a number of
the grants I submitted, a portion of that money will be used in the marketing of the facility
through improving the website, undertaking more events and improving its online digital
presence. It was very important to my own development as a marketing professional to learn the
process of grant writing, especially for non-profit organizations who rely on external grant
funding to be available so they can market themselves better either at in person events or online.
Public Speaking
The fear of public speaking or Glossophobia is often ranked as the number one or two fear for
the general person in life. Communicating your ideas clearly, presenting them openly in a public
forum and being seen as in command of your subject, is an essential component of success for a
marketing major. I am the first to admit that public speaking is not my strong suit and certainly
an area I know I must work on to become much better at. I certainly get nervous and suffer from
anxiety when I know I must speak on behalf of an organization such as Mercy Full and during
my internship I knew I must face my fear head on.
Doing my internship at Mercy Full Project I saw as a step to challenge myself to become a better
public speaker as conveying the needs of a non-profit organization is so important when trying to
educate the public of the vital work Mercy Full does for animals especially those which require
medical attention. I been involved with several animal rescue organizations, and I have
witnessed those who had a person who had a good command of public speaking often were
directly proportional to the donations they could procure from the public or corporations.
I set myself a personal goal to push myself my fears and anxiety to become a better speaker by
using my internship as the vehicle for improvement. The owner of Mercy Full Project is often
pulled into crisis’s taking her away from the core needs of business being obtaining funding and
I knew I could be phoned at short notice to step in for her at an event. Part of my internship as
explained to me was to organize events, speak at public events on behalf of Mercy Full and to
speak to the public 1-on-1. Interestingly, I danced at competitions for 12 years and enjoyed doing
this in front of an audience as I taught myself to be confident through constant practice.
Channeling this success into my public speaking fear, I began to practice more on my Mercy Full
presentations in front of a mirror similar how we did this at dance. Being involved in the daily
running of the business via my internship, also allowed me to get a better holistic view of the
business. This knowledge therefore translated for me on a personal level as to having more
confidence in my speaking because I knew so much more of the finer details about Mercy Full
because I worked there every day.
I was certainly grateful for the opportunity to develop my speaking skills during my internship as
the 2 years of Covid-19 forced university studies online, which I now realize meant I lost the
natural development one would get from being on campus and being involved in class
presentations. I also realize to be able to use my Marketing degree to its maximum, I must
continue to overcome my fears and continue to improve on my identified weaknesses.
People Management
My father had always told me that people management is a skill which is difficult to learn if you
are not born with some natural ability but regardless of your natural ability it remains one skill
you must continue to develop right up to the end of your career. While academic studies may or
may not support his words of advice, I have certainly observed some people have a natural
ability to organize others in a seamless manner. Thankfully this is a skill I believe comes to me
more naturally than other however I realize managing people is easier if the employees respect
you, and what you are trying to achieve. In my mind respect is an item earned and one which is
not just a given.
The owner of Mercy Full certainly helped me gain immediate respect by sending an email
outlining during my internship that I was to be seen as her 2IC. By sending that email to the
workers and volunteers it helped me gain immediate credibility from day 1 of my internship. I
knew however, this immediately put the ball in my court to act in a professional manner as any
junior manager should. The owner also briefed me that she would like to change the volunteer
reporting structure and for me by the end of the internship, deliver her a proposal for changing
volunteer employee positions for her consideration.
To undertake this restructuring proposal, I put together a written plan which included weekly
milestones I must achieve because without a timeline I knew that my completion dates would
likely slip. I also requested a weekly meeting with the owner so I could be held accountable each
week for the action items I had developed. The backbone of my proposal required me to
understand what each volunteer was responsible for, what impeded their ability to successfully
complete their job and to importantly consider what ideas they had for improvement. I had
previously found by engaging people to find the solution or allowing them to part of the solution
gave everyone more ownership of what they wanted to do. A key item for me was to better
understand the impediments each worker faced and offer potential solutions to improve this.
The internship certainly provided me the opportunity to help with challenging my people skills
and how placing an employee in the most effective position within the business can help that
business become more effective. Although my internship has finished, the owner is committed to
continuing with the restructuring of the positions as I suggested. This fact helped me understand
how even a person still learning their craft can still make positive improvements.
IV.
3 skills that I learned from coursework and applied to internship are time management,
concentration and organization.
School in general has taught me a lot about time management as you have no other option. If you
do not manage your time well when it comes to your schoolwork you will perform badly whether
that is on a test or an essay. My internship class specifically has helped me with time
management because I’ve never been in a position where I had to do schoolwork and actual work
at the same time. This really helped me delegate my time because I knew that I absolutely had to
do my schoolwork in a timely manner because I didn’t have much time in the weekdays to fool
around. This also translated into my internship work as I knew that I had to stay on task in the
day and complete all my assigned work as I did not have time to do it when I got home because
of my schoolwork.
School has also taught me about the importance of concentration although I’ve never had to
harness it as much as I had to in my internship. My internship class specifically helped me with
this because I had maintained a written summary of the projects, tasks or daily routines you
encounter during my internship. This helped keep my concentration because it almost turned into
a to-do list each day and then some. Because my internship was not in your typical corporate
office space, there was a lot of chaos that I had to ignore such as volunteers, animals and walk
ins. As much as I would love to be preoccupied with a puppy in my arms or a conversation with
a volunteer, I had to really keep the concentration and luckily because I had learnt from
coursework it was not as hard as I thought.
School has taught me the essentialness of being organized since its beginning. To the point
where I am very organized in most aspects of my life because of it. My family have never been
organized so it was a skill someone other than my family had to teach me. My internship class
specifically helped me with this because of the work and course load I had, I knew I was going to
have to be organized. I bought a planner and started the organization of the next 6 weeks to help
prepare myself and my time management and concentration.
3 skills that would have been helpful to know prior to my internship would be speaking Spanish,
self-reliance, and interpersonal skills.
Learning Spanish has always been something I have never cared to do, even though I lived in
Miami for 10 years. Leaving Miami, I thought I was out of the woods with Spanish speaking,
obviously not understanding that Spanish continues up through Florida. While it was not a
requirement that I knew any Spanish, I had to pick up on some important words very quickly as
one of the employees at the organization spoke only Spanish. I have now added Duolingo to my
everyday routine to continue to aid my Spanish, but I wish I had been less ignorant in my teen
years.
Self-reliance is something that I assumed I would not need much of in my internship because I
thought that as the ‘intern’ I would spend a lot of time training and have people looking over my
shoulder. This was not the case as it was the opposite, I was tasked to do most things on my own
and while I was able to handle it, it was not what I expected. I think because my internship was
with a nonprofit instead of a large corporation is why I needed to be more self-reliant than most.
Interpersonal skills were skills that I had known of but had never had to use in the professional
world, skills like active communication through knowing when to speak and listen. In my
internship I was dealing with many people in higher positions than me within the organization
and in other companies, I had to pick up on these skills and cues quickly. I feel like interpersonal
skills must be practiced by being learnt and the pandemic also hasn’t helped our interpersonal
skills. Being pushed into an environment where I had to act professional to hopefully come off as
professional helped me achieve this fine skill, but it would have been helpful to know
beforehand.
V.
Because I cannot provide examples of my Grant Writing in any capacity, I am including the
events that I coordinator and promoted. These events were all either pitched, designed or
coordinated by me. As a marketing intern I didn’t know that I was signing up to create events, I
just assumed that I would try and market them, but I ended up in some cases doing it all. The
events that were in conjunction with another business were pitched to us and we accepted. The
others were organized by me. Businesses use animal rescues to bring animals usually puppies to
their events to create excitement and show out. Mercy Full Project uses these events to bring
awareness to the organization, collect donations and do adoptions. Because of the way Mercy
Full Project does adoptions, the people we meet at these events usually aren’t taking our animals
home the same day, however the people we invite to these events might be. With events like this
there is a give and take, MFP brings promotion and people to the event and the business the
event is in conjunction with does the same to MFP. However free promotion isn’t always worth
Mercy Full Project’s time and with little staff and volunteers I had to turn down many events
over the course of my internship for practicality.