By Dr. Alicia Schatteman, Director of the Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies
There are many options to work with NIU students to assist nonprofit organizations:
Undergraduate student opportunities
- The 40TUDE Nonprofit group is a student consulting team and they take on projects that last only 2-3 weeks, typically research, or plans etc. If you think you have a well-defined project that fits that description, you can submit it here https://40tude.edusourcedapp.com/submit for the student team to consider.
- Sometimes classes will work with nonprofit organizations on a class project which depends on the class and the instructor. The spring semester runs from January through May and the fall semester runs August through December. Typically, instructors plan their syllabus and projects a few months before the semester starts. You can contact an instructor directly or reach out to Dr. Schatteman at aschatteman@niu.edu.
- If you have short-term volunteer opportunities, the Center will promote those opportunities to our students. Send an email with all of the information to nonprofitNGOcenter@niu.edu.
- Another option is creating a nonprofit internship. You can do an honorarium (the DCNP program participants receive $575 for their intern) and that program is open by application. Some nonprofits offer paid hourly wages to interns, especially in this competitive labor market. Typically, undergraduate interns work 8-10 hours per week around their classes. You can read more about undergraduate internships here and contact us with any questions or to help you create your internship description.
Graduate student opportunities
- The Master’s in Public Administration capstone course also runs each semester. They look for government or nonprofit projects for that course. This is a group project that typically involves the class researching a particular issue, and then offering recommendations on how to address that issue.
- The MPA program here at NIU also requires a 20 hour per week internship for graduate students who are paid an hourly wage and they work for two academic years. You can read more about that program here. They will be accepting applications for these graduate internship sites for fall 2022 incoming students. Most internships begin in the fall semester but the intern selection process happens the previous spring so reach out as early as possible if you would like to participate.
To work with graduate students in the MPA program, email publicadm@niu.edu.
