Internship Location: Madison WI
Organization Type: Nonprofit
Policy Areas: Health equity and civic health policy
Throughout my internship experience, I’ve learned a lot about the nonprofit sector, specifically the function of fiscal sponsorship. Embolden acts as a fiscal sponsor, extending its status as a nonprofit organization to other initiatives and organizations that have the same or similar missions. Fiscal sponsorship allows Embolden to further its mission of increasing health equity and civic health through different partners and putting those most affected in the driver’s seat of creating policy changes. I’ve also been able to work on a curriculum for a cohort project that involves a community-based project implemented by the cohort members to address an issue they’ve identified in their community. Using systems thinking from my La Follette courses has helped me to understand fiscal sponsorship, as well as how Embolden chooses what partners to fiscally sponsor. The stigma around the nonprofit sector has surprised me the most, specifically in terms of payment. Working at Embolden has shown me how executive directors of nonprofits do multiple different jobs and have to be qualified in many different areas, yet are often scrutinized for receiving a salary that accurately reflects the work they do and how qualified they are. Being able to sit in on curriculum scoping, board of directors, and grant-making meetings was extremely valuable, and allowed me to conceptualize the goals and flow of those meetings. I would recommend this internship to anyone to wants to learn more about the nonprofit sector, advocacy work, and health equity/civic health. This internship helped me to expand my scope of career paths, as I would love to work in a nonprofit in the future!