Equality Diversity & Inclusion Campaign

In conversation with The 10,000 Interns Foundation

● Tell us a little about your organisation.
The 10,000 Interns Foundation champions underrepresented talent and promotes equity of opportunity. We run two programmes that help us meet our mission: The 10,000 Black Interns programme, and the 10,000 Able Interns programme, both offering students and grads paid internship opportunities across a range of industries.

● What are your objectives for 2023?
We are strengthening relationships with partners across new sectors, elevating our brand, and digging into our impact to create better outcomes for underrepresented talent - this means that we’re not only offering over 3,000 roles across the UK, but are highlighting the stories and experiences of the individuals and employers across our programmes, which we are really excited about.

● Give us an insight into your core values.
Everyone deserves access to opportunity, and the agency to explore their interests within the world of work. We are driven to democratise the early careers space to ensure that a variety of perspectives and voices are given a platform, and that the communities we work with can access spaces they may have traditionally been excluded from. Our team is inherently diverse, and this informs our method - representation, authenticity and integrity are key pillars that help us put our interns first. We believe that talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn’t - and this is what we are working to change.

● We are focusing on EDI let us know how you are approaching this / how your company encompasses equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Historically, we’ve been fairly metrics driven, and our aim has been to deliver impact at scale. This has made a tangible difference to the organisations we work with from a diversity perspective - we are literally changing the face of UK industry in a way that can’t be ignored. Our programmes encourage participating organisations to consider a breadth of talent that they may have previously overlooked. This year, we want to make it really clear that diversity differs from inclusion. We are drilling down into what more we can do, alongside our participating firms, to ensure that every single one of our interns feels welcomed, supported, and listened to, during their time in industry. When it comes to inclusion, training, storytelling, and research are our focus’.

Nana Campbell – Director of Impact and Engagement

Web: https://www.10000internsfoundation.com/