FAQs

Placements pay their Associates’ salaries (£27,010 on a pro rata basis for c.12 months),  and a one-off introduction fee to On Purpose before the start of the programme (between £9,000 and £19,000 depending on the size and legal structure of the organisation).

If placements end up hiring an Associate full-time after the programme, they pay On Purpose a finder’s fee of between £9,000 and £16,500.

Put simply, because On Purpose Associates are exceptional. We spend a large amount of time attracting and selecting Associates from a large pool of potential applicants. They are always talented and motivated, with proven professional track records. Most of the time, they take a sizeable pay cut to be part of the programme.

In addition, as part of the On Purpose Programme, the Associates have access to a large and valuable support network, which means that they can start adding value to their placement organisations more quickly than a typical employee starting out.

Finally, we minimise the time and effort otherwise involved in recruiting high calibre employees or volunteers.

Associates spend 4.5 days a week at their placement host. Every placement has a clear social or environmental purpose, as well as a commercial aspect. They interact with senior executives, contribute to both short and longer term projects, and quickly integrate into a placement host’s team.

Examples of previous placements:

• Working on the business strategy for Mental Health First Aid England, to help them respond to a rapid increase in demand for their services
  
• Developing a new Social Mission for the Ben & Jerry’s European Team
• Designing a social impact measurement and management framework for Esmee Fairbairn
• Running M&S through Oxfam’s Behind the Brands framework, which assesses the social and environmental policies and impacts of the world’s largest food and beverage companies

Yes, many of our past and current placement hosts are traditional charities or commercial businesses.

However, the work On Purpose Associates do must combine social and environmental objectives with commercial ways of working.

This could, for example in a charity, be developing new earned revenue streams, or in a commercial business, improving environmental sustainability in supply chains, or providing services to otherwise excluded groups in the style of microfinance.

No, we provide motivated and bright generalists. Many of them will have relevant skill sets that will be applicable to your placement and we will take this into account when matching Associates to placements, but we cannot guarantee a particular area of expertise. There is more information on how we match placements and Associates here.