Summer Intern Assignments Available: Purposeful Work, Fair Pay For Students

Community Matters is a new nonprofit stemming off Lower Price Hill Community School, with a mission “to create opportunities with our communities that promote a more thriving and just city.” Charitable Words Scholars will assist Community Matters raise awareness and funding for a “Washing Well” worker-operated cooperative laundry. Photo: Cincinnati Enquirer

‘Audience’ database will be breakthrough project

Charitable Words is looking for college students or recent graduates interested in internships or contracted freelance assignments with a variety of Greater Cincinnati nonprofits with a wide range of jobs to be done.

Our greatest need will be for students to work on a breakthrough “differentiated audience database” project to help nonprofits identify and reach the right friends and supporters, potential donors and volunteers. The database will be customized for each nonprofit partner. The students will be collaborating with pro bono assistance from some of the area’s top media and PR professionals. Once developed, the database and training modules will continue to be updated and available to the nonprofit community in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

Experience with databases and spread sheets highly desirable. We also hope to find students with sales experience – interpersonal skills – to work on crowdfunding campaigns with nonprofit partners. Other assignments will include web development and design, communications, writing, photography and video.

Here are current partnerships and plans for the summer. We’ll be looking for at least three or four interns and several contracted freelancers, all paid assignments (we don’t do or condone the practice of “free internships”).

Community Matters: Community Matters serves Lower Price Hill. While it has achieved millions in funding for construction projects, restrictions on its funding leave little room for marketing, communications to raise funds for daily operational needs. Charitable Words Scholars will assist Community Matters president and founder Jen Walters and her team to raise awareness and funding for a “Washing Well” worker-operated cooperative laundry. The project will provide access to safe, affordable local laundry to serve 600 families – 90 percent of its neighbors are renters with an average annual salary of $9,600.

Starfire Council:  Charitable Words interns will be assigned to The Starfire Council of Greater Cincinnati, a visionary organization “working to build better lives for people with disabilities” Starfire faces a significant messaging challenge as it evolves from a “day program” approach of group activities to a more impactful model, working with one person at a time. While day camps and outings have value, they tend to isolate the disabled.  Working with one person at a time, Starfire Connects people to relationships and uncovers a person’s talents and passions- so that they can thrive in their communities alongside their neighbors.

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College: Charitable Words Scholarships will help four Occupational Therapy students at Cincinnati State pursue their education in the area of care and services for children and adults with disabilities. Students are provided hands-on learning experiences at The Eileen Burke Occupational Therapy Center, a home that has been designed for at-home accessibility, with state-of-the-art assistive technology and teaching programs. Communications specialists on the Charitable Words team will partner with the OT students to raise awareness of the program with storytelling strategies, including instructional and marketing videos.

Mannequin Boutique: Mannequin is a women’s clothing, accessories, art, antiques and gift boutique, featuring upscale and vintage merchandise in Over-The-Rhine.  All proceeds go to charities and social services such as Free Store Food Bank, Lighthouse Youth Services and Tender Mercies. A student web developer and advisors will update Mannequin’s web site to make it easier and more intuitive for founder Moe Rouse, her staff and volunteers to update. Other Charitable Words Scholars team members will provide multimedia content and work with the nonprofit on awareness strategies.

Rothenberg Preparatory Academy has as its home a treasured historic building with century-old Rookwood tiles, a strong sense of community and, on its rooftop overlooking steeples and stunning sunsets in Over-The-Rhine, a 8,500-foot educational garden. But it has not had a web site to convey its important work to friends, supporters and potential donors and volunteers. Charitable Words Scholars have created a web site and plan to work with the nonprofit to provide content and strategies to reach important audiences.

Melodic Connections is a Cincinnati nonprofit that provides music therapy to special needs students. Previous Charitable Words Scholars internships providing web site development and multimedia content that resulted in quadrupling the nonprofit’s digital and social media presence, and increases in funding and volunteers followed (testimonials on file).  Charitable Words will support an awareness and crowdfunding campaign to add a digital strategy to Melodic Connections’ annual “Greenhouse Rock” fundraising event Oct. 15 at The Krohn Convervatory in Eden Park.

One of Melodic Connections supporting foundations, The Hatton Foundation, noted and appreciated our work. Building on the successful outcomes and learnings of our work with Melodic Connections, The Hatton Foundation has committed $15,000 this summer to sponsor Charitable Words projects related to nonprofits doing important work for children with disabilities and their families.

Thank you to The Hatton Foundation and all of our sponsors, listed here. We are hoping to announce new sponsorships soon.

ABOUT CHARITABLE WORDS

Charitable Words’ mission is to help nonprofits – often with lean, if any, budgets for communications and marketing – improve their impact and better tell their stories. A corollary goal: Provide experience and paid internships and assignments to a “purposeful” generation of students facing an unprecedented bubble of debt.

Ours is a unique – some say innovative – 501(c)(3) social enterprise that partners with other nonprofits rather than compete for funding. We connect them with Charitable Words Scholars – college students and recent graduates with a variety of skill sets.  Students and our partners benefit by the engagement and guidance of our network of volunteer professional advisors and connections to pro bono resources.

During and after projects, we help nonprofit partners shape and share their stories to the right audiences on the right platforms – improved web sites; stories, photos and video; awareness events and crowdfunding campaigns.

Since 2012 more than 60 scholars have been engaged with more than 30 nonprofits. “Reports from the field,” outcomes and testimonials are available here on the charitablewords.com blog.  The activities and impacts of the nonprofits are reported here as well and available to be shared with appropriate target audiences.

ON ASSIGNMENT:

Charitable Words Scholars currently are on assignment with other nonprofit partners:

Documenting a youth poetry slam for Wordplay

Holland Rains, Erin Mullins and Taylor Harris from Northern Kentucky University’s College of Informatics will produce a documentary video for Wordplay, a Cincinnati nonprofit that provides free tutoring, literacy & creative writing programs for students K-12. Since October, they have been immersed with Wordplay’s six teams preparing for the “Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB)” youth poetry slam through the final presentations April 18 at The Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.  The poetry project has 14 schools participating in the competition, with 400 youth  ages 13-19 to participate. NKU instructors Sara Drabik and Michele Day are advisors of the documentary project, which will provide funding and valuable learning experience for the College of Informatics students.

Thank you to ArtsWave, which has pledged a $1,000 sponsorship of the documentary.

“Opening The Minds” of Alzheimer’s patients through art

Alexandria Predota, Kellyn Czajkowski and Kaitlin Moore of the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University will work with ‘Opening Minds Through Art,” an innovative program under the guidance of advisor Dr. Like Lokon, a nationally-recognized expert in the field of patient-centered care.  Their reports from the field will be shaped and shared by Charitable Words to help raise awareness of this important program and an issue that affects so many lives and families.

Branding and awareness campaign for “Kicks for Kids”

A team of Charitable Words Scholars from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky colleges has been assigned to a major branding and awareness campaign with Kicks For Kids, a Covington-based nonprofit that provides fun and enrichment for children at risk. The students and recent graduates will work with Executive Director Christine Sebastian and Charitable Words’ network of pro bono professional advisors to redesign Kicks For Kids’ web site, create rich media content and marketing materials and communications strategies. Kicks for Kids was founded by former Bengals kicker Doug Pelfrey in 1995 and has directed over $2 million into positively impacting the lives of over 50,000 youth in our community who are challenged either mentally, physically, or by the environment they live in. Kicks For Kids wants to streamline its message – communicate its accomplishments, impacts and needs. Thank you to The Mayerson Family Foundation for your sponsorship of $1,000!

ENGAGED GIVING AND COLLECTIVE IMPACT:

Our sponsors and supporters believe in engaged philanthropy and the power of collective action, in with the impact of their giving is exponentially leveraged by the talents and high-quality work of our students, engagement of our network or volunteer professional advisors and collaborations and connections to pro bono resources.

Charitable Words does not directly teach, tutor or feed those in need.

But it is here to help increase the awareness and capacity of those who do.

It is, by definition, collective action – and impact.

Please share these opportunities with students you think may be interested. Social media sharing buttons are below.  Contact: tcallinan@charitablewords.com. Thank you!

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