Making the Most of your Nonprofit Internship

This post was contributed by Elizabeth Clawson, a young nonprofit professional who has worked in organizations ranging from small local offices to national headquarters. She recently relocated from Washington, DC, to Seattle, where she grew up, and is relishing the search for her next career opportunity. Follow her on Twitter.

In Washington, DC, where I worked for years, everyone knows Capitol Hill is run by interns. What most people don’t know is that the same is true of the nonprofit sector. As both a former intern and supervisor of interns, I’ve seen it in action: nothing gets done without them. And there’s no better way to get your foot in the door—or weather a recession layoff—than to intern.

If you’ve never interned, or your experiences haven’t been everything you dreamed of, here’s a cheat sheet to making the most of your next nonprofit internship.

What is an internship?

Think of it like an apprenticeship. This is not your burger-flipping, retail-selling gig. You will work to help an organization meet its mission, and may get paid for it (or may not, or you may earn school credit if your school has such an arrangement). You’ll likely be assigned a supervisor, but you may take on tasks for multiple staff members. You may work on one project from beginning to end, or on one isolated piece of a project. Your internship may be just a few months long (often following the academic calendar), or it may last longer.

The point is that you experience not only working for the specific nonprofit, but working for nonprofits in general—or in an office setting in general, if it’s your first office job.

What kind of work will I do?

It depends. If you work at a small organization, your responsibilities may be substantial. For example, in one internship, after I proved myself capable, I was made responsible for an entire program. At a large organization, on the other hand, you may be doing mostly administrative work. As a former American Red Cross headquarters intern, I certainly did my share of filing and envelope-stuffing. But I also contributed to the department’s mission when I went above and beyond my job description to take on some of the heavy casework load.

What kind of nonprofit should I intern for?

If you want more substantive work, shoot for a smaller one. If you want a big nonprofit name on your resume and are willing to tackle lots of data entry, a large one may be better for you.

But what about mission? It’s great if you can find an internship with a cause you’re already committed to. In that case, you may be able to frame your skills to fit any internship description, since you already have passion for the cause. But if you’re not sure about the cause, think about the kind of work you enjoy. Many nonprofits have department-oriented internships. If you love writing, a communications internship might be a good fit. If you’re a politics wonk, check out policy internships. There’s room for both generalists and specialists in the world of interns.

How do I find an internship?

Most nonprofits use sites such as Idealist or Craigslist to advertise for interns. If you’re looking for something kind of rare—perhaps a lab science internship—an online keyword search might return better results. Colleges and universities also often keep listings of internships for nearby organizations.

But sometimes an internship might not exist were you want it. In that case, write up a description of your dream internship at that organization. Find an appropriate contact person at the nonprofit, and arrange a meeting to talk about designing an internship for them. Chances are it’ll be unpaid, since they may not have the budget to hire an intern, but coming up with a proposal is a resume-builder in itself. And more likely than not, assuming there’s someone willing to supervise you, the nonprofit staff will be happy to have you on board.

Keep in mind

In the best internship, as in the best job, everyone wins. You get job experience, education, and an insider perspective on a nonprofit. Your employer gets your talent and hard work. It’s one manifestation of what the nonprofit sector does best: invest in people. And there’s no better way to learn the sector than from the inside.