Sophie Bradley-Elliott

Indigo Volunteers: My experience interning for a humanitarian organisation

I embarked on a remote internship with Indigo Volunteers in January 2024. Having studied Politics and Philosophy at Cardiff University and graduated in 2022, and then spent the following year travelling Australia, I was in search of a new opportunity that would offer me growth, direction and fulfilment. Over the months that followed, I achieved exactly that.

Indigo is a non-profit organisation that connects volunteers with humanitarian organisations that provide refugees with essential shelter, education, legal advice and much more. They operate across Europe, with much of the team based in the UK and Greece. In partnership with over 50 grassroots charities, their mission is to combat ‘voluntourism’*, by offering responsible and affordable volunteering opportunities.

My role within Indigo, as Corporate Marketing Associate, involved conducting research to enhance their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)** programme, and also to assist with Linked In and email marketing. I volunteered 12 hours a week for around 8 months, working both collaboratively with the Indigo team via Google teams meetings, and independently.

My work often took the form of planning, scheduling and creating Linked In posts, writing and formatting newsletters, researching and reaching out to potential companies for partnerships, and working with the Corporate Team to deliver on our strategy of growth and increased visibility within the corporate sector. As Indigo’s aim is to responsibly support refugees, it was essential for me to educate myself in this area, and stay up to date with the ongoing conflicts and difficulties encountered by displaced populations.

This experience exposed me to the multitude of benefits that volunteering can offer. Here are just a few:

  1. The relationships you are able to form with like-minded people through a voluntary experience are so valuable. I was able to be part of a wonderful team who supported me throughout.
  2. You can make a valuable contribution to a worthy cause. In 2023, Indigo placed 334 volunteers with charities, who dedicated 26,857 days to improving the lives of refugees. I feel proud to have been a part of the continuation of this work.
  3. Enhance your CV and stand out to employers. Volunteering experience is a great indicator of an individuals’ organisational skills, ambition, dedication and compassion.
  4. Volunteering is a great way to try something new. Personally, I was able to gain experience in the field of marketing and communications. This was completely new to me and not without its challenges, but was fundamental in inspiring me to pursue this area further and apply for my Masters in Media, Communications and International Journalism at the University of Glasgow!

If you are interested in a volunteering on the ground with one of Indigo’s charity partners, you can find out more and express interest here: https://www.indigovolunteers.org/apply. Indigo will specially match you with an opportunity that suits you, and will support you throughout to ensure that you get the most out of the opportunity.

In addition to this, the Indigo team is constantly expanding, are there are opportunities to volunteer remotely to assist with internal operations (as I did), in areas such as marketing, research and fundraising.

Whichever way you choose to get involved, take it from me, you are in good hands!

*Voluntourism is the term coined for experiences offered by agencies that combine volunteering and travel, which can often induce extortionate fees and be depicted as exotic experiences, rather than focused on helping those in need. 

**Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the idea that businesses have a responsibility to act in a way that has a positive impact on people and the environment, which may involve support or direct involvement in charitable initiatives.