What is it that freelancers do? Most of the time I get asked the question, people presume I do fundraising because I work for charities. It’s interesting that a lot of people can’t conceptualise a charity as a whole organisation, with all the internal and external functions needed to run it effectively.
To be honest, I never had any idea about the huge variety of work that’s offered on a freelance basis. Some of it is incredibly inspiring, some of it is straight-forward and some of it is outright bonkers. Here’s a selection of what I’ve seen lately:
Communications Specialist
A four-month contract to support the communications strategy for a charity, at 2 days a week. Their focus is creating momentum behind a new fund that supports Black and Minoritised communities through social investment.
Drama Workshop Facilitator
A wonderful left-field one – an Assistant Drama Workshop Facilitator role for children living in temporary accommodation. Offered on an hourly-pay basis
Community Coordinator
A community coordinator for an early years’ arts development organisation. A role designed around building relationships with nurseries, schools, higher education providers and art organisations, and developing their offer to local children and families. Offered as a one-year contract at one day a week.
Head of Veg
Honestly. A Head of Veg to grow produce for the kitchens of an artists’ residence and hybrid pub/arts space. On-site accommodation and training was offered as well as awesome job title. This one was advertised as a 9-month contract.
Neurodivergent-experienced Coaches
Someone was on the lookout to build a bank of associates for a consultancy that supports workplaces to become more inclusive. Their focus was on coaches, virtual assistants and trainers who have experience with neurodivergence, particularly those with lived experience. No more details but associates are generally long-term relationships, often on retainers.
Researcher
This one was a fee-for-result piece of work, looking for an independent researcher to undertake a literature review of content covering the systemic risks of extreme/concentrated wealth to society. I’d like to read the findings of that.
Programme Mentor
An organisation looking for a programme mentor to a group of community enterprise leaders in a particular region of the UK. Their focus is on developing leadership capabilities for the cohort. This one was a 15 month contract, at roughly a day and a half a week.
Evaluator
This one was looking for someone to evaluate the pilot of a digital debt advice and personal finance management platform. A partnership of organisations have been funded to run a pilot for 18 months, and the evaluator will focus on whether the functionality and efficiency was strong, as well as benefits for participants and wider lessons around building financial resilience. Another total sum project.
Campaigner
This opportunity was for an experienced campaigner to scope out a new campaign to phase out North Sea oil and gas production in the UK. Lots of work around context analysis, stakeholder mapping and advising on how a campaign could have most value. This one was advertised as a more intensive short-term project, running for up to 6 months but at an hourly rate for a 36 hour week.
Economist
Another total sum project, with just a month’s worth of time. This organisation was looking to start a major programme around digital exclusion, health and wellbeing, and they were looking for a freelance economist to help them model the affordability of internet connectivity.
Copywriter
This organisation was after a subject matter expert in children and young people to support the rewriting of their toolkit on preventing gender-based violence. A total sum project, and estimated at 10 days work.
Strategist
A small charity looking for strategy expertise and facilitation for a Board away day, with the work focusing on running a 3 hour session. They were looking for help setting objectives and agreeing measures.
Digital Media Specialist
An organisation on the lookout for someone to create a short film that celebrates new British citizens and their community engagement such as volunteering. A chunky budget and a chunky application process.
Curriculum Creater
This one was a paid per hour role. They were looking for someone to write a digital literacy curriculum, designing a set of one-hour sessions to be led by their course coordinators. The organisation supports refugees and this would be part of their specialist employment support, helping refugees integrate into the UK.
Democracy Researcher
An EU-based tender for work looking at the emotional politics of democracies. They were looking for longitudinal analyses and cross-country comparisons looking at how changing emotional landscapes and shifts in popular feelings interact with practices and values central to democratic politics. Big concepts. Big money. Presumably also big timelines.
Conclusion
I’m focusing my searches for work on those doing social good, which is almost always in the not-for-profit sector (charities, social enterprises etc) but occasionally other bodies creep in. None of these I’ve gone for personally but I have absolutely loved reading (and still do) all the new opportunities as they pop up. It feels like constantly getting a better insight into how deep, diverse and interesting the work of freelancers is as well as getting buoyed by realising what incredible and ambitious work is being done out in the world, some on a tiny individual scale and some on a systemic level to change the world for the better.
Photo by Gabriel Gurrola on Unsplash