Work Study and Internship Opportunities

NPP Employment Opportunities

We cannot accept additional applications for Summer 2016 internships at this time.

However, we will be happy to recieve applications for Fall 2016.  Federal work study or other funding from your college is required, unless an applicant is seeking an unpaid internship for experience, learning or academic goals.  General areas of work are described below but specific projects will be based on skills and interests of applicants.  Interns work in our Northampton office between 9am-5pm Monday through Friday. Most interns work 6-12 hours per week during the academic year.  Summer interns work 15-25 hours per week, depending on their goals or college program requirements.  We ask interns to establish an individual schedule they can maintain with their academic obligations and other responsibilities.

Please note:  NPP is not able to offer paid internships, unless students have federal work study funds or other funding from their college.

National Priorities Project creates publications and online tools and games to help people understand and shape federal budget priorities.  This work involves following what’s happening in Washington and applying curiosity and quantitative skills to cut through a complicated topic – and lots of political spin – in order to provide non-partisan, informative resources for regular people who want to have a say in how Washington spends our tax dollars.


Research Intern.
Research interns help locate and process data.  This includes finding and compiling information from the White House, the Congressional Budget Office, the Census Bureau, think tanks, and news sites, among sources. Web research, data entry, and memo-writing are core responsibilities of the research intern. Advanced interns participate in the development of blog posts and other web publications.

Qualifications: Creative, motivated, organized, good communicator, and responsible, able to work independently, with a healthy respect for deadlines. Experience with spreadsheets, data entry and manipulation is required. Formula creation, graph making and in-depth experience with Excel are desired. Attention to detail and accuracy is essential. Students in the social sciences or computer science with strong quantitative and critical thinking skills are invited to apply, as are students from diverse backgrounds with data manipulation skills and an interest in policy.  Experience with statistics and data analysis a plus. Perfect for intellectually curious students who want to explore how to use data for government transparency and to draw attention to national social and economic issues.


Graphic Design and/or Animation Intern
The graphic design or animation intern will produce illustrations, images and/or animated shorts to help NPP’s audience make sense of the federal budget process and how it affects them. This high-impact work will be distributed to a large audience through NPP’s website and social media channels. The intern will collaborate with NPP’s communications and research teams to design creative Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and web-friendly materials relevant to the news cycle and to our longer-term projects.

Qualifications: Creative, opinionated, organized, and responsible, with a healthy respect for deadlines. Able to work independently and take initiative to implement new ideas. Experience with the relevant software in Adobe’s Creative Suite (e.g., Illustrator, InDesign).


Video Production Intern
The video production intern uses digital technology to produce creative educational videos.
In addition to filming and producing occasional short “budget brief” videos, NPP is exploring new digital tools for making creative online video content. Videos will be used to help NPP’s audience make sense of the federal budget and how it affects them. This high-impact work will be distributed through NPP’s website and social media channels. One video produced by an intern in 2012 received 70,000 views.
This internship offers the successful candidate staff-level job experience, but the position also comes with a higher level of responsibility than is typical of most internships. A successful video production intern brings a high level of professionalism to his or her work: S/he must maintain a regular schedule at NPP and reports to work on time. S/he should be eager to contribute creativity and hard work in order to produce regular, high-quality video output. S/he will be encouraged to explore new ways of telling NPP's story through video, including animation or other creative film-making techniques. The video production intern may also have some general research assignments and responsibility for creating some presentations in Power Point.


Qualifications: Creative, motivated, organized, and responsible, able to work independently, with a healthy respect for deadlines. Basic film-making knowledge is ideal, including proficiency with Adobe video production software, video editing, and YouTube. Interest in policy, federal budget, or open government issues is desired.
 
Development Intern
The Development Assistant will assist the Development staff with daily administration of fundraising activities and learn how a nonprofit organization generates revenue. The Assistant will help with direct mailings and event preparation as well as a variety of other office tasks.

Qualifications: Organized, detail oriented, and responsible; excellent people skills, ability to work independently, and good written and oral communication skills.  Accuracy and confidentiality essential.

 
Outreach Intern
The outreach assistant would help to organize, build and maintain an email directory of groups and individuals; assist in developing and maintaining a media contact list and track media coverage. The intern would also participate in NPP’s social media work with a focus on Facebook and Twitter. The intern could also be involved in analyzing NPP's media coverage and activists' use of NPP materials in order to better ascertain how NPP's message is communicated and to what effect. Other duties may include preparation of materials for workshops and conferences; assisting in preparation of presentation materials with PowerPoint, and other special projects or office assistance as needed.

Qualifications: This work requires someone who is organized and detail-oriented, computer and e-mail literate, with the ability to work independently, reliable and responsible.


Please apply to:  internships@nationalpriorities.org.

Please complete the NPP Application and include a brief resume, 2 references and a description of your specific interests and goals.  Federal work study is required for paid internships.  Without work study or other funding, NPP is not able to offer paid internships but works with interns to develop projects that will advance their interests and goals.

See link below for application.

Download Application