Scott
My name is Scott Su. My role with IT4Causes was the Nonprofit Management Intern. In this role, I was responsible for marketing and event planning. On the marketing, my job was to draft messages for social media and create presentation slides and videos for promoting the company. On the event planning side, I was in charge of planning and coordinating Happy Hours and other networking events, including finding sponsors and promoting the events.
My main goal in the internship was to get more people to know about IT4Causes and learn as much knowledge and as many skills as I can. And this internship provides me a lot of opportunities to try different work. Because IT4Causes is a nonprofit startup, interns like me can work on many different aspects instead of doing one type of work every day. Therefore, the biggest thing I have learned from this internship was the understanding of the management of a startup. I now have a clearer sense of a company’s structure and how different parts coordinate with each other. Another great thing about this internship is its flexibility. I know what I need to do and I can spread the work evenly in a day or in a week rather than work straight eight hours a day. And I also have the option to work remotely. Besides several meetings a week, I do not need to go back to the office every day. That allows me to work in a more comfortable environment.
I found this internship very rewarding and valuable and I would definitely recommend to others who have an interest in startups and non-profits. Most of the times, interns are trained to take over the tedious work and help the employees in the company to work more efficiently, in which case, they don’t have a lot of learning opportunities. However, in this internship, I worked directly with the founder and I was in charge of the entire process of marketing or event planning. I got a lot more responsibility but huge growth in my skills and knowledge at the same time. And it is rewarding because I know my effort is not only for this company but also for the community IT4Causes is helping.
Happy Quote:
I wanted an internship that offers the opportunity to develop skills in all different aspects of a business. And this internship at IT4Causes is exactly what I look for.
John
I found this internship through the University of Richmond Career Services website, and didn’t know a ton about the organization at first. I was interested because it seemed like a good way to reconcile my passion for charitable work with my business education, so I decided to look a little closer at IT4Causes. What I found was a startup with a worthy mission, and so I applied and was ultimately accepted. During the summer, I had a broad range of responsibilities and therefore had a broad range of learning experiences. As is the case with most startups, the job description is just the beginning of what you will end up learning and doing, and I found the vast array of experiences very rewarding.
With the summer behind me, I would highly recommend this internship to anyone who is either interested in startups/entrepreneurship OR to anyone who is interested in charitable work. Beyond the work-related experiences I had with IT4Causes, I developed a rich network of nonprofit leaders in the Richmond area and was exposed to the causes those organizations support. By working with IT4Causes, I got to support multiple agencies who believe in multiple worthy causes. I also got the chance to work alongside different members of committees for IT4Causes, and learn from professionals in a wide variety of fields. Finally, I had the chance to apply my business education in an environment where people are working hard to solve issues that plague the Richmond community, and to know that my work had and will continue to have a positive impact.
Jasleen
I had a great time working for IT4Causes this past summer! Going into the internship, I didn’t have much expectations of what I was going to learn or what kind of an experience I would get. However, at the end of the internship I was quite content with how I had spent my summer. I learned a lot more than I had imagined I would! Since IT4Causes helps lots of local non-profits clients, I was able to interact with many of them on a one-on-one level. Working with different clients helped boost my confidence level and gave me the interaction with others that I had always yearned for. The best part was that I didn’t just stay at one location all throughout the internship. This past summer, I definitely had a valuable experience, as along with working with clients and attending company events, I was also able to learn and apply the concept of networking. Prior to the internship, I was always hesitant to meet new people and even more hesitant to start a conversation. IT4Causes really helped me to become not only confident in myself but also confident enough to interact with almost anyone. I would really recommend others to apply to the internship so that they can also learn new things every day and experience a wonderful working environment.