Jade O'Brien, RBS Secondment

Fundraising Department

Jade says…

The Royal Bank of Scotland offers an ongoing rolling secondment to Eaves’ fundraising department, and I have been representing RBS as the third secondment in the Eaves/ RBS partnership.

“I had the opportunity to undertake a three month optional charity rotation and I saw this secondment as a great chance to not only work around issues that I am passionate about, but an opportunity to experience working in the charitable sector which is so different to the corporate world.

“At Eaves I have been working with the fundraising team to strengthen the links between Eaves and large corporations. This has included organising for employees from those companies to come in and run workshops for Eaves’ service users, so businesses can see the value of the work Eaves does, and hopefully encourage them to support Eaves financially. The cuts in statutory funding and the increasing competition for those pots of money have presented many challenges to charities like Eaves, and means that support from businesses and individuals for funding has become all the more important.

“I have had the opportunity to work directly with the women that the charity supports not only through the workshops, but also through working on a pilot mentoring program for women who have been supported by Eaves and who are now ready to move on to further education and/ or employment.

“A highlight for me has been the recent graduation of an Eaves service user from beauty school. She applied for a scholarship through Eaves a year ago, after having been supported through her experiences of violence, and it has been amazing to see what a transformation she has undergone. I feel very privileged to be a part of her journey.

“The women who use Eaves’ services are very inspiring. Working at Eaves has opened my eyes to issues that I would not normally come across in my daily life working in the City. Eaves provides a crucial service to vulnerable women and their children, whose voices are rarely heard. My time at Eaves has inspired me to get more involved in this type of work in the future.

“I can’t stress enough how meaningful the work at Eaves is and what a worthwhile cause it champions. I would definitely encourage others to get involved by volunteering as well as attending fundraising events like the Eaves Poker tournament which is sure to be the fundraising event of the year, and looks set to be a fantastic night!”

News & views

Exiting training now accredited!

8th April 2015

We are delighted to announce that our Exiting Prostitution Good Practice training is now accredited by Open C… read more

Standing by Human Rights for women’s sake

25th February 2015

Who benefits if we backtrack on human rights? The only beneficiaries of such a move, as we see it, are the go… read more

Eaves awarded National Lottery funding for exiting prostitution project

17th February 2015

Eaves’ London Exiting Advocacy (LEA) Project was awarded £491,825 of National Lottery funding today. LEA h… read more