Continuing the Possibilities: The Patterson Foundation’s Unique Internship Program

The Patterson Foundation (TPF) strives to live out its values by strengthening people, organizations, and communities and connecting with changemakers — even across the country.

TPF's Advancing Philanthropic Leadership (APL) initiative offers opportunities to interact with aspiring philanthropists from Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (LFSOP), the world's first school dedicated solely to the study of philanthropy, with TPF's core values and tenants woven throughout.

From the Fellows Program to courses taught by TPF's President and CEO Debra Jacobs at LFSOP, APL offers the chance to turn silos into systems.

One of APL's creative endeavors is the Nonprofit Internship Program in collaboration with the LFSOP. Suncoast nonprofits can virtually host an undergraduate or graduate student intern to work on any project the nonprofit is currently undertaking. Through the program, LFSOP students can amass practical, real-world experience, be paired with living examples of innovative philanthropy, and learn from organizations that place a large emphasis on strategy. The organizations get fresh eyes and imaginative thinkers, helping to strengthen their impact.

To date, two organizations have completed internships — Neuro Challenge Foundation for Parkinson's and Manatee County Habitat for Humanity. Manatee County Humane Society is in process, and Lemur Conservation Foundation begins this month.

Each engagement presents the interns and organizations with the chance to create and live in a world of possibilities.

Learn more about the Nonprofit Internship Program. To go a little deeper, visit the Nonprofit Internship Program Blog Library.

Interested in hosting an intern? Please contact Connor LaGrange at cLaGrange@thepattersonfoundation.org.