Philanthropy Front and Center-Cleveland

The Cleveland Foundation's Summer Internship Program Is Accepting Applications

(This post is from Nelson Beckford, Program Officer, The Cleveland Foundation)

As I reflect on the 2009 Cleveland Foundation interns, I remain impressed at how quickly they grasped the concept of networking. They quickly friended each other through Facebook.  They followed each other on Twitter.  They set up Flickr and Facebook groups for their host site organizations.  They also made connections the old fashioned way – through hand shakes, conversations and meetings. They connected to other internship programs and conducted a citywide day of service.  They gained access to the rock stars of the nonprofit sector – from the staff at small and large nonprofits, to the president of the Cleveland Foundation and the mayor of the City of Cleveland.

This year’s intern class represented the best and brightest from area colleges and the region.  They represented diverse majors such as social work, finance, art and anthropology.  Their host sites represented the diversity of Cleveland nonprofits. Over 11 weeks, these 16 young professionals received first hand experience about the organizations and individuals that are in the business of making change.  The kind of change that improves lives: neighborhood development, art, sustainable business practices, poetry, sports and economic development.  While the work was not easy, it was meaningful and helped to build the capacity of the nonprofits at which they were placed.

Is your organization interested in hosting an intern next summer to help complete an important short term project?

The Cleveland Foundation's Summer Internship Program is accepting applications [doc] from area nonprofits or governmental agencies until November 30, 2009. College students, recent graduates, and graduate students work full-time for an 11-week session during the summer. The Cleveland Foundation provides funding to cover the intern’s stipend.

In order to apply we ask that the organization:

• Appoint a senior staff member to serve as the intern’s supervisor.
• Provide ample supervision, feedback, and support to the intern.
• Provide meaningful work and learning experiences for the intern. Past interns have worked on projects such as event planning for a major fundraising event, designing an audience. demographic survey, developing a marketing/outreach plan and revising training materials
• Provide a workspace and other resources (access to computer, reference materials, telephone) needed for the intern to complete work assignments.
• Accept the intern as a temporary employee of your organization for the 11-week term of the internship program. This includes distributing the intern stipend in accordance with your organization’s normal payroll procedures.

More information can be found here.

Pew Finds Clean Energy Economy Generates Significant Job Growth: Ohio Has Growing Share

According to a report [PDF] released June 10, 2009 by Pew Charitable Trusts, the number of jobs in America’s emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007.  Pew found that jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent, while traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent between 1998 and 2007.  There was a similar pattern at the state level, where job growth in the clean energy economy outperformed overall job growth in 38 states and the District of Columbia during the same period. 

The Clean Energy Economy: Ohio [PDF] fact sheet says:

Ohio has a large and growing piece of America’s clean energy economy. It is one of seven states, along with the District of Columbia, where the number of total jobs fell but jobs in the clean energy economy increased between 1998 and 2007. The Buckeye State ranks fourth nationally in number of jobs in the clean energy economy in 2007 and seventh in number of patents over the past 10 years.

Read the full release here. It includes links to a state-by-state ranking, company snap shots, response from several state governors, and fact sheets for each state and the District of Columbia.

From The Answer Desk: Where Can I Search for Job Openings in the Nonprofit Sector?

A: In addition to consulting general sources like classified advertisements in your local newspaper and web sites like Monster.com and craigslist.org, many web sites provide searchable listings of jobs currently available in the nonprofit sector.

The Job Corner at the Foundation Center’s Philanthropy News Digest provides listings of current full-time job openings at U.S.-based foundations and nonprofit organizations. Sign up to receive the Job Bulletin free of charge.

The following web sites also provide searchable listings of nonprofit positions currently available:

Philanthropy Careers at The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Nonprofit Jobs at idealist.org

Jobs at Nonprofit Times

Job Seeker Center at Opportunity Knocks

Career Centerat Philanthropy News Network Online

Community Career Center

Nonprofit Jobs at ExecSearches.com

BridgeStar, a service of the BridgeSpan Group

All Foundation Jobs, a service of the Council on Foundations

Careers at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Job Center

Sponsorship Industry Careers, a service of IEG (registration is required)

New York Foundation for the Art’s Jobs in the Arts (registration is required)

Have a question? Ask Us!