The Foundation Center (www.foundationcenter.org), the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, seeks a resourceful, self-motivated, conscientious, and detail-oriented intern to provide assistance with its data gathering efforts on grant recipient and grantmaker activities during the upcoming semester for a maximum of 20 hours per week. A stipend of $5 to $15 will be provided for each day.
This is ideal work experience for someone interested in a career in the nonprofit sector (including the arts, education, environment, health/human services and international philanthropy fields) and in applying his/her college skills in a real-world environment. Learning opportunities include:
Career exploration
- Exposure to processes and practices of gathering large-scale data, including processing, classification, and publication, on a wide range of philanthropic activities at an organization that sets the standard for providing timely and accurate information for all areas of the sector;
- Exposure to current issues and trends in the broader field of philanthropy, including examining new forms of philanthropic giving and philanthropy's role in advancing social justice, sustainability, and diversity;
- Exposure to the breadth and depth of international philanthropic organizations and their practices;
- Exposure to our taxonomy and classification systems to further enhance philanthropic knowledge.
Skill development
- As scheduling allows, complimentary enrollment in related Foundation Center training workshops;
- Experience in use of the Foundation Center's Foundation Directory Online, the nation's leading database for researching foundations and their grants, as well as other Foundation Center research and training tools;
- Experience working with information architecture and classification systems to gain an understanding in the development and application of rules associated with those tools;
- Experience in researching foundation and membership organization practices via web and phone research;
- Experience working as part of a welcoming and effective team that cuts across several Foundation Center departments.
Key day-to-day responsibilities
- Assist in collection and data entry on various areas of domestic and international philanthropic activity from internal, external, and online sources;
- Work with assorted tools such as Recipient Authority File and internal autocoding programs to classify grants and grantmaker activities according to Foundation Center's taxonomic system;
- Compiling and entering collected data into integrated database;
- Intensive telephone and email follow-up with targeted organizations;
- Assist in identification of other data sets across multiple databases that can serve as area of focus for data refinement efforts;
- Additional tasks on an as-needed basis.
Qualifications
The successful candidate will demonstrate a commitment to excellence, the ability to think and learn quickly, strong organizational skills and attention to detail, a high level of competency in using popular office software (particularly Microsoft Office), strong web research skills, comfort and enjoyment in interacting with others, and an appreciation for the activities of the nonprofit sector. Professional, positive attitude a must; relevant previous experience a plus.
