Communications & Research Intern
About the Obama Foundation
At the Obama Foundation, we are guided by a core belief: that ordinary people working together can change history. Our mission is to inspire those people to take action, empower them to change their world for the better, and connect them so they can achieve more together than they can alone.
We were founded by community organizers, so when we seek change, we do it by bringing people together.
That approach begins at home, on the South Side of Chicago, where we are building the Obama Presidential Center. The Center represents a historic opportunity for Chicago: a chance to build a world-class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation’s first African American President and First Lady, steps away from where he began his career, where she was raised, and where—together—they made their home.
But that approach extends to all our work, whether its holding leadership training sessions in communities throughout the U.S., bringing local leaders together in countries around the world, working to support the global education of girls, or ensuring young men of color have pathways to opportunity.
As President Obama has said, “we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together.” So join us.
For more information, please visit www.obama.org.
Description
The Communications and Research team has a distinct overview of all Obama Foundation team activities from beginning to end. We get involved early with each of the different teams to help provide research for their projects, we complete vetting for donors, program participants, and vendors to ensure the Obama Foundation maintains positive relationships, and we help teams culminate their events through press engagement that often involves writing press releases and responding to media requests. The Comms and Research intern should have strong research and writing skills, including experience with journalism or media writing, as well as the desire to learn new systems like Salesforce and LexisNexis. This full-time internship will begin on January 6, 2020, and end on May 8, 2020. The Foundation will provide interns with a modest stipend of $3,000 to support a portion of the expenses directly related to the internship.
The application will close on October 13th, 2019 at 6pm EDT – due to a high volume of applications we will not be able to consider any late submissions.
Responsibilities
In the past, interns have done the following tasks:
- Assist the Research team in building out robust research documents for Foundation research project requests
- Train and become comfortable with vetting, and vet low level donors, vendors and partners
- Lead research and vetting organization for large upcoming events
- Take the initial pass at drafting talking points and press releases
- Provide administrative support for the media relations team, including tracking of media lists and communications project management
- Assist with Salesforce optimization
Sample projects:
- Lead organization of research and vetting for Leaders: Asia and be the liaison for other teams.
- Draft an initial press release for an international roundtable.
Equal Opportunity Employer
The Foundation is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please e-mail us at careers@obama.org if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.