Education Graduate Summer Intern

Education Graduate Summer Intern

About the Foundation 

The Kresge Foundation is one of the top 25 private philanthropic foundations in the United States and the only one focused exclusively on expanding opportunities for people with low-income in American cities. With an endowment of approximately $4 billion and a staff of over 100 employees, the foundation deploys grants and social investments across arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services, and community development. The foundation’s state-of-the-art headquarters maintains an array of energy-efficient, water-conserving and health-promoting systems. The foundation also operates an office in Detroit’s Midtown district.

About the Education Program

Kresge’s Education Team focuses on helping low-income and students of color enter and succeed in undergraduate education and reducing inequitable college outcomes in completion and attainment.  Our focus states are California, Florida, Michigan and Texas, and we prioritize student success efforts at community colleges and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) in our work.  You can learn more about the program at https://kresge.org/our-work/education/.

About the Position

The Graduate Summer Intern will be integrated into the team and, by working closely with Kresge staff members, will experience what it’s like to be a program staff member at a national foundation. This will include meeting with prospective applicants and current grantees, reviewing letters of inquiry and proposals, conducting due diligence on nonprofit organizations, participating in team review discussions, and assisting with various research and analysis projects. The intern will have the opportunity to be exposed to the work of many of Kresge’s grantees in the college access and success field as well as explore opportunities for interdisciplinary partnerships across the Kresge program teams. The intern will also have the opportunity to pursue professional development opportunities, such as attending a conference (e.g., UNCF UNITE or the SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference). The internship will be an in-person experience in Troy, Michigan. It runs from June 9 - August 21, 2026 and applicants must be available during that full window.

Potential Responsibilities Include:

• Research: This may include conducting scans on particular topics, portfolio analysis of approximately 150 current Education Team grantees, briefing the team on research reports and current developments in higher education, etc.
• Convening planning: Depending on timing, this may include helping to plan either virtual or in-person convenings of grantees, funders or other partners.
• Learning and evaluation: Helping to build out the team’s knowledge management function by framing several “lessons learned” sessions or communications vehicles.
• Capacity building: Exploring organizational capacity-building opportunities and promoting them to grantee partners.

We will negotiate the final scope of work with the selected intern based on Kresge’s needs and the intern’s interests and expertise. We particularly encourage students with expertise in any of the following areas to apply:

• Building capacity and increasing student success at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other MSIs.
• Investigating the potential for Artificial Intelligence to enhance higher education. 
• Supporting Latino student success efforts. 
• Exploring higher education’s role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• Bolstering nonpartisan college student voting and civic engagement work.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a graduate degree or Ph.D. related to higher education, public policy or educational equity with a minimum GPA of 3.0.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to manage a heavy workload and flexibility with shifting priorities.
• A self-starter who can multi-task in a fast-paced hybrid environment.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Program planning experience is a plus, as is experience or expertise in our focus states and institution types.

What we offer our Interns

• A pay rate of $30/hour for Graduate students
• Housing stipend of $350 per month, regardless of whether an intern must relocate to the Detroit metro area
• A paid week off when the Foundation is closed (June 29-July 3, 2026)
• Volunteer opportunity or group activity.
• Breakfast, lunch, and snacks daily for a minimal charge from our Troy cafeteria   

This position is located at the Troy, MI office and has a hybrid schedule where Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are in-office days. Therefore, the Foundation highly encourages applications from local metro Detroit university students and students who will be local to the metro Detroit area over the summer.                         

The application deadline for this position is Sunday, January 4, 2026 at midnight EST. Please attach a cover letter for consideration for this position. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

Kresge is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

The Kresge Foundation participates in E-Verify to confirm authorization to work in the United States. For more information on E-Verify and to know your rights please click here.