Summer Internship Description - Development
TRC seeks a very versatile, outgoing intern who will support the Development Staff. This is an excellent opportunity for an intern who wants to gain an experience with fundraising efforts through written solicitations, research of prospective donors, event planning, and grant compliance. This internship can be approximately 15-30 hours a week; hours and days to be determined in the interview. Applications will be looked at in the order they are received.
About TRC
The Renaissance Collaborative, Inc. (TRC), an award-winning non-profit organization, was founded by four historic Bronzeville ecumenical churches in 1992. TRC promotes self-sufficiency through an innovative and comprehensive network of supportive housing, employment, and educational services. Using an asset-based approach, the agency works in three distinct business areas: Renaissance Apartments & Fitness for Life Center, Senior Village, and Bronzeville Green.
General Tasks
- Research at the Donor's Forum Library
- Discovering new foundations and corporations to build our prospect database
- Obtaining contact information, funding preferences, and recent grant info
- Updating our "Grant Tracker" Prospect section with new possible funders
- Research any foundations found through the review of other Chicago-area nonprofits' Annual Report
- Research/Comparison of other Chicago-area nonprofits
- Generate a list of nonprofits in Chicago that offer similar programs/services at TRC (for example, Genesis Housing Development Corporation (GHDC) is a City of Chicago 501-c-3 organization founded in 1996 to address the issue of low- and moderate-income families ability to own and maintain affordable housing)
- Find any recent Annual Reports from these nonprofits
- Highlight any foundations that are not in our prospect research section of the Master "Grant Tracker" for further investigation at the Donor's Forum Library
- Generating Lists of strong grant possibilities for a specific program or funding area (i.e. Health & Wellness funding or general operating support) by using the "Grant Tracker" Prospect section and finding foundations we have not before solicited
- Using this list, generating LOIs for submission to new foundations
- Submit, after review with Development Coordinator, LOIs to identified new foundations
- Creating lists of past foundations that we submitted LOIs or proposals to, and never heard back from.
- Either calling these foundations or writing them to see if they would continue to be possible funders. Or discussing with the Development Director and Executive Director whether we should resend LOIs to these foundations.
- Research on statistics of poverty, education level, income, etc. for residents of the Bronzeville community. Also, research of online articles that discuss issues relevant to the programs we are operating. For example, finding articles discussing the importance of workforce development in Douglas/ Quad Cities.
- Practice writing sections of a grant proposal
- Example—read a few different TRC proposals, focusing on the "Need" section, and taking notes on the specific techniques and structure of the information.
- After reading a few proposals and focusing on their "Need" section, Write one of your own for a specific TRC department (for example, the Education & Employment department.)
- Use any new research or statistical information gathered from online searches
- Practice writing cover letters
- As in number 6, look at several submitted cover letters from the TRC files
- Research online for what makes a good proposal cover letter
- After reading/researching standard cover letters, try writing your own aimed at soliciting a foundation that would support one of our specific departments (such as the Health & Wellness Center at the Senior Village) and include specific statistics or information regarding that program
