By Meghan Takwani, Senior Trusts and Statutory Officer

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Our latest staff story is shared by Meghan, who is on the trusts and foundations fundraising team here at Prisoners Abroad. In this blog post, she reflects on several changes: the different roles she has undertaken during her time working for the organisation; a shifting fundraising landscape; and how the world of Prisoners Abroad has challenged her thinking.

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I joined Prisoners Abroad right at the beginning of 2021, having graduated from university about six months prior. It had been a strange end to my degree in 2020, and I left with an interest in working in the charity sector but little idea about what that would look like in reality. 

Now, more than three and a half years into my job in the fundraising team, I feel incredibly privileged to be part of such a unique organisation, and to get to work with a great bunch of kind and dedicated colleagues. For me, it really is the people who make Prisoners Abroad.

My role has changed quite a bit over the relatively short time I’ve worked here. I started as fundraising assistant, which had me interacting regularly with our individual givers. It was wonderful to hear about people’s personal motivations for supporting the charity: each one of them unique and many quite emotional. From there I moved more towards working on our fundraising from organisations, specifically charitable trusts and foundations. I now work across our trusts and statutory income streams – writing bids to get specific projects funded, reporting on our government grants, and chatting to prospective funders about why supporting Prisoners Abroad is a most rewarding endeavour.

The trust fundraising world has changed quite a bit even since I’ve been involved in it. Competition for grants has hugely increased as charities and other not-for-profit organisations are seeing more demand for their support services. What that means for us is that we must find creative ways of highlighting just how important the work we’re doing here is. Though it’s certainly challenging to find new opportunities, it’s also incredibly rewarding to receive a positive outcome to an application and hear how much our work is resonating with people.

Meghan (second from left) with trusts and foundations fundraising colleagues Sam, Rina, and Zeta

One of the great things about working at Prisoners Abroad is that as we are a relatively small team, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with things outside of your usual role. I’ve had the chance to judge prisoner artwork for the annual Koestler awards, attended a parliamentary drop-in, and in the last year I’ve joined our employee resource group for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

The EDI group meets to discuss areas of improvement or interest we might like to propose to the leadership team and sends monthly email bulletins to staff highlighting awareness days/celebration months. We also hold discussion groups called ‘ZOUDs’ (Zone of Uncomfortable Discussion) on topics such as the use of pronouns and correct name pronunciation, ageism, and diversity/representation in our printed materials. We wanted these to be a space for the staff team to discuss topics that are important to us both inside and outside of work, learn together, and consider things that we can do to celebrate diversity and make our workplace more inclusive for everyone.

Meghan (centre) with colleagues Chris and Laura at the Redress parliamentary drop-in in January 2024

I had never heard of Prisoners Abroad before I applied for the job – but working here really gets under your skin. It puts you in front of issues that are not widely talked about and challenges you to think differently about the world. There’s something very special about showing up to work every day knowing you are making a difference. 

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Being offered a lifeline can change everything. 

Prisoners Abroad translates human rights law into practical life-saving actions by providing prisoners access to vitamins and essential food, emergency medical care, freepost envelopes to keep in touch with home and books and magazines to help sustain mental health.

Can you help to support our life-saving work by donating today?

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