Danny Lovatt
Area of work: Charity administration
Employer: Opportunity International UK
Qualifications: BA human geography, University of Portsmouth
8.55 am
I cycle to work, so the first thing on my ‘to do’ list is a nice cup of tea to re-hydrate myself. My e-mail address is the main point of contact for external enquiries, so there can be lots of messages waiting for me. I deal with any requests for information about our general work and specific projects. One of my key responsibilities is diary management for the chief executive, so I double-check his commitments for the day and organise anything he needs for meetings, trips or visitors.
11.00 am
The post arrives mid-morning: an exciting event for a charity as any one of the envelopes may contain an unexpected donation! For security reasons I open anything sent to the general address with a colleague, in case envelopes contain cash. Some donors choose which projects they want to help, so everything we receive has to be coded onto the system to ensure it goes to the right place.
1.15 pm
Our lunch breaks are staggered to ensure there’s always someone to answer the phone. The office is near the city centre and several parks, so I go for a walk and get some fresh air if it isn’t raining. If there’s a new member of the team, we all have lunch together to welcome them.
2.15 pm
I attend fortnightly staff meetings and monthly meetings with my boss. If there are no meetings, I get stuck in with writing thank you letters – the charity’s relationship with both one-off and regular donors is important, so each donation is individually acknowledged.
3.30 pm
I usually spend late afternoons on global work for the charity – printing and binding reports, and planning conferences. Some of my role is maternity cover, so I’m looking forward to increased responsibility and greater involvement with the projects in Africa when this stage begins.
5.00 pm
I try to leave the office on time, but sometimes stay a little later if I have to confirm details for the chief executive for the following day. We have a degree of flexitime though, so this isn’t a problem.