PIM Social Impact Internship for Fung Scholars (SIIFS), Beijing

PIM Social Impact

Internship for Fung Scholars

(SIIFS), Beijing/ Victor and William Fung Foundation Limited

Background

Following the success of the Good Fellow Programme last year, the Victor and William Fung Foundation worked with Philanthropy in Motion (PIM) again in 2019 to launch Social Impact Internship for Fung Scholars (SIIFS), an immersive 8-week internship from 1st July to 23rd August in Beijing, China. This internship programme is intended to provide Fung Scholars with the perspective, skills, and experience to develop into socially responsible global leaders.

Applicants attended online interviews in which we got to know more about them. The recruitment started in March and the selection process ended in May. We aimed to match the strengths and expectations of the applicants with the requirements of the organizations.

SIIFS started with the Social Impact Bootcamp Training, a pre-programme training on social innovation topics ranging from lean start-up methodology to social sector sustainability, impact measurement and storytelling skills, and more. Following the training, Fung Scholars served full-time with leading social venture in Beijing to gain experience, apply their learning and building skills, and make an impact at their host social venture. Throughout the programme, the participants received mentorship for career development from cross-sector professionals.

During the 8-week internship, Fung Scholars led projects within innovative social enterprises working in education, corporate social responsibility, non-project capacity building and more. Their daily work ranged from conducting data analysis to creating social media content. Leaders of organizations reported that the Fung Scholars were hardworking and uniquely committed to understanding the broader on-project sector, praising the diversity of backgrounds and experiences each Fung Scholar contributed to the organizations.

Read below for Fung Scholars’ internship experience and their reflections.

Chloe Cheung (FS18/19, Lingnan University) “I was much honored to work with a team full of love and passion, and extremely grateful for having this precious opportunity to explore philanthropy in mainland China.”

During the summer of 2019, I participated in the Social Impact Internship programme organized by Philanthropy in Motion (PIM), for which I stayed in Beijing for around 2 months. I was assigned to work for Mantra, a social enterprise that utilizes the “Buy One, Give One” business model. I was much honored to work with a team full of love and passion, and extremely grateful for having this precious opportunity to explore philanthropy in mainland China.

Throughout the internship in Mantra, I kept on learning how to edit videos and create better social media content. Instead of simply selling our sunglasses, we spent most of the efforts on promoting our mission and the “Buy One, Give One” business model. Therefore, we did a brainstorm every week and discussed our ideas in the Monday pitch meeting. If the ideas were good enough, we wrote scripts and prepared for filming. After shooting all the materials needed, we moved on to video editing and posted the videos on social media. The whole process seemed easy, but it actually took more time and effort than I had imagined. Therefore, I am glad to work in such a caring and supportive team in Mantra which let me learn by time. Moreover, the workshops in PIM’s Bootcamp and all the dinner gatherings with mentors helped me a lot in understanding the philanthropic scene in China, providing practical assistance and advices for my career planning.

This is a challenging but unforgettable and fruitful summer for me as I stepped out of my comfort zone to work and live out of Hong Kong. I will remember all the cool people I met and delighted moments here in Beijing!

Yujia Chen (FS17/18, Fudan University) “By taking off the label of “disability” and seeing the value in a person, we could discover much more talent and potential in people in the workplace.”

This summer I worked as an intern in Easy Inclusion Consulting. Easy Inclusion is a social enterprise committed to support a sustainable career for people with disabilities in an inclusive workplace. At the beginning of this internship, I was just a fresh college graduate without clear career goals who kept questioning whether there was such a business that valued motivation rather than money. It turned out that this internship not only introduced me to the impactdriven social enterprises, but also taught me how I could dedicate myself to solving a social problem that I care about.

On one hand, I had the opportunity getting to know the disability community in mainland China which has been invisible in the mainstream society for so long. As I worked with people with hearing and visual impairment, I learned that they have unique strengths such as resilience and good communication skills. That was when I understood what Easy Inclusion believed in— “inclusion makes business easier”. By taking off the label of “disability” and seeing the value in a person, we could discover much more talent and potential in people in the workplace.

On the other hand, social enterprises have opened a new world to me, and for the first time I saw a career that I could be highly motivated to develop. The boot camp and roundtable dinners with fellow Fung Scholars and mentors from PIM inspired me to see the connection between the society and meanings of my life. From sharing of the mentors, I realized that career goals could be about solving social problems instead of merely finding a specific job, convincing me to explore social issues that I care about and to think about my very own career goal.

Winson Cheng (FS17/18, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) “I really wish I could find a job I like in the future and be like them.”

During the two-month stay in Beijing, I worked as an intern in the Monitoring and Evaluation Department at Vibrant Communities. My job was about improving data processing and visualization.

The colleagues in Vibrant Communities were so nice and kind that they took care of me a lot in the office. During the monthly meeting, every colleague was given the chance to share their feelings and report their working progress. At first I thought my Mandarin was good enough, yet I had a lot of difficulties to catch what they said due to their strong Beijing accent and some mainland slang terms. It turned out that working with them improved my Mandarin a lot.

Some moments in Vibrant Communities made a very deep impression on me. Once I was talking to my colleagues about if they got paid for working in the weekend, but judging by their response, it seemed that they didn’t feel like they were working. In the office, I also felt their passion in work. This was because they thought they found the right job and they were doing something they really enjoyed. I really wish I could find a job I like in the future and be like them.

Another reward of this internship was my friendship with Emily, Lindy, Chloe and Vesper. They were all interns and Vesper was the PIM intern. We hung out very often as we shared our working experience in organizations, talked about our daily life in Beijing and visited a lot of attractions in Beijing together.

Xiaoling Wu (FS 18/19, Xiamen University) “I could feel their passion about this social cause, which pushes them go further and further in their tough but rewarding journey.”

To be honest, I was excited yet anxious when I read the email that I was admitted to the PIM Social Impact Internship Program for Fung Scholars and became a member of A Better Community (ABC). Although having done research into this organization, I still felt confused –What’s a social enterprise? How can business models be integrated into the operation of nonprofit organizations (henceforth NGO)? How is it like to work in an NGO?

With all the doubts and concerns, I came to Beijing, a beautiful city with rich history and, of course, busy traffic. On the first day, I met up with Emily, Chloe and Winson, three great young people with whom I spent this wonderful summer. Miraculously, my anxious feelings dissipated immediately when we started to complain about the size of a metropolitan city like Beijing and became acquainted with each other.

My adventure officially began on July 1 st , when we came to PIM’s office building and attended the orientation workshops. To be honest, I have already forgotten the details of each speaker’s talk, yet what has inspired me and touched me was that all of them are

devoted to tackling social disparity, be it politically, culturally or economically. Regarding philanthropy as their mission instead of tasks to complete, I could feel their passion about this social cause, which pushes them go further and further in their tough but rewarding journey.

Besides the cute PIM family, I would love to say thanks to everyone I met at ABC. I was intrigued by the lovely name of this organization at the very beginning and just because of the warm meanings carried within the name, I signed up for the PIM Social Impact Internship Programme and expressed my wish to become a member of ABC. The truth is that everyone wants to make the world a better place or a better community, whereas few of us are spending efforts to make this dream come true like the ABC family. Or, to be more specific, some of us are doing good to society by volunteering from time to time, which seems a nice approach to solving social problems but is actually of low efficiency and high cost. What ABC does, however, is not merely volunteering; it creates a platform for potential volunteers from both the workplace and the college.