Communications & External Affairs Undergraduate Summer Intern

About The Kresge Foundation

The Kresge Foundation is one of the top 20 private philanthropic foundations in the United States and the only one focused exclusively on expanding equity and opportunity in America’s cities. With an endowment of approximately $4 billion and a staff of over 100 employees, the foundation deploys grants and social investments across arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development nationally and in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans and Fresno. The foundation’s state-of-the-art headquarters in Troy, MI, maintains an array of energy-efficient, water-conserving and health-promoting systems. The foundation also operates an office in Detroit’s Midtown district.

About the Communications & External Affairs Department

The Kresge Foundation’s External Affairs and Communications Department partners with the foundation’s program, practice, and administrative teams to share the story and impact of the foundation’s work and the work of our partners. The department uses a full complement of communications tools and channels – media relations, digital and social media, email marketing, publications, speech writing, internal communications, and strategic communications counsel – to advance the foundation’s mission.

About the Position

The communications intern’s role will be designed to provide hands-on experience in external, internal and digital communications based on a combination of the intern’s personal interests, learning objectives and the current foundation projects. The position will report directly to a Communications Officer and include opportunities to own significant projects and interface with multiple Kresge teams.

Primary Responsibilities Include: 

The communications intern will play a key role in supporting the department’s overarching strategy and goals, helping to advance the foundation’s strategic communications objectives, and producing high-quality content for Kresge’s website, social media, email newsletters, and other communications channels. The selected candidate will develop a portfolio of projects to potentially include:          

• Producing a communications plan to promote Kresge’s Summer Internship Program.
  • News story for Kresge.org
  • Social media campaign leveraging Facebook, Instagram, Threads and YouTube
  • Digital graphics and short videos to promote on all Kresge platforms

• Developing a Q&A series on Kresge’s new Fellowship Program.
• Individual Q&A stories featuring each Kresge Fellow
• Social media content to promote the feature stories
• Digital graphics and short videos to promote on all Kresge platforms

• Supporting communications officers in creating compelling stories about our grantees’ work and impact in their communities, and supporting ad hoc projects as needed.
• Development and distribution of press releases
• Ongoing updates to the Foundation website
• Various Foundation-wide projects (webinars, video shoots, photo shoots, all-staff learning and engagement activities, special events, etc.)
• Creating social media content for various digital channels
• Developing data and analytics reports

Qualifications

• Current undergraduate students majoring in communications, journalism, public relations, marketing, or related field.
• Students who have completed their sophomore year.
• Minimum GPA of 3.0 preferred.
• Ability to multitask, adapt to changing needs, work independently, and as part of a dynamic team.
• Strong writing skills, interpersonal communication skills, and organizational skills.

What we offer our Interns

• A pay rate of $25/hour for undergraduate students.
• Housing stipend of $350 per month.
• Volunteer opportunity or group activity.
• Breakfast, lunch, and snacks daily for a minimal charge from our cafeteria.   

The Foundation highly encourages applications from local university students and students who will be local to the metro-Detroit area during the summer.                         

The application deadline for this position is Midnight EST on January 5, 2025. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

This position is located in Troy, Michigan and currently has a hybrid schedule.  Tuesday and Wednesday are the standard in-office days, however, there may be times when you will have to adjust the days based on work needs. 

Kresge is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

The Kresge Foundation participates in E-Verify to confirm authorization to work in the United States. For more information on E-Verify and to know your rights please click here.