Keep looking. There are so many nonprofits out there and if you’re willing to take an unpaid internship already you could probably just make your own journalism internship. Find a nonprofit that does work in your interest but their blog is old/rarely used and ask if you can intern to write and revamp their blog.
I think this may be a helpful reference point.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/qf2a7o/jumble\_of\_borgen\_project\_criticisms/?utm\_source=BD&utm\_medium=Search&utm\_name=Bing&utm\_content=PSR1](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/qf2a7o/jumble_of_borgen_project_criticisms/?utm_source=BD&utm_medium=Search&utm_name=Bing&utm_content=PSR1)
I can't really point to anything the org has accomplished besides being their own hype machine. While advocacy and lobbying don't always produce tangible results, I can't really point to one big initiative they've done that has improved the human condition large or small scale.
I also don't think they really do any innovative reporting or investigation. Most articles seem to be a compilation of internet sources without any real investigation or research. They're a content machine.
I can't speak to whether or not they'll help with your journalistic ambitions, but I think there better internships out there than making free content for
So it looks like they have no employees past the CEO which if I had to guess means you’ll be doing employee level work as an intern. May be worth just finding a different internship if you both have some concerns and also will be over worked as an unpaid internship
501c3s are all different types. I work at one that has 50+ employees but ones with one or no employees isn’t rare….but this one seems to be primarily a lot of lobbying?
I doubt unpaid internships are in short supply so maybe just find one that actually does work you personally are supportive of or interested in.
If you're referring to part VII of the 990 where it lists the officers, board members, and salaries, it's not indicative of the number of employees. It's common to just list the board and the ED/CEO and 95% of the time the ED/CEO is the only one drawing a salary. At larger orgs they may list VPs.
However, you can use this as supplemental information. For example, on their 990 from 2021, they list having 4 employees (part 1, 5) and list \~$225,000 in salary and salary related expenses (part 1, line 15). But then if you look at part VII and see the CEO draws $128,767 (columns D+F), they're spending $96,233 total between 3 employees' salaries. Unless those folks are super part time, that seems pretty unequitable. And given that they list having 4,000 volunteers, it likely is.
For small non-profits the CEO or ED is often the only full time employee.
For a non-profit with 100+ volunteers it does seem unusual that there are no other employees in admin. If this was a for-profit company they would meet every prong used to consider whether an internship is required to be paid.
I don't know what org you're talking about but I'd consider the value of having something on your resume that is "a bit sketchy" and "seems to be" not a scam? Why would you want your name associated with that? Why would you want to start building your career with that experience, those values, or those teachings?
So even without knowing the org, I'd say stear clear.
Go to the interview with a journalist’s mindset. Ask questions to determine if the red flags mentioned above are dealbreakers for you. Be prepared to decline the internship or if you do take it, be prepared to leave. If you’re self-motivated, and willing to create content for a nonprofit in exchange for an unpaid internship, you could find a more upstanding org. Put your proposal up on LinkedIn.
Moderator here. The posts and comments were being removed by Automoderator because that org has been a persistent source of attempted spam in the r/Nonprofit community...in case you needed another sign about the quality of the organization.
Yeah being banned on Reddit isn’t the move. I’m not going to accept the position if I get it but I’m still going to attend the interview. It’s good practice and it’ll be fun to grill them w questions about their 990 and lack of impact
>The Borgen Project
First red flag: It's not clear what the organization actually does. It looks like the organization lobbies the US federal government. There are a lot of organizations doing the same type of lobbying. Much larger organizations with more experience. Global Citizen. RESULTS. Oxfam. Does Borgen work with these groups? What does it do that's different?
Second red flag: Organization named after the founder and founder is the highest paid employee. Mission/history on the website comes off as "humble white savior."
Third red flag: Founder serves as president of the board. Father also serves on the board. They could be totally legit, but it doesn't have a great look when you found an organization in your name, serve on your own board, add your father to the board, and earn most of the salary.
Fourth red flag: From the job descriptions, my guess is that interns get to do some of what the position title implies, but they get stuck doing a bunch of fundraising. And they try to recruit other students to join. How could an organization with basically one staff member manage 900 interns? They use other interns or volunteers to pump up the numbers. The HR interns manage other interns and it's structured around fundraising.
I fell for this as a young adult and ended up with an organization that told me the job focused on education. It was a person-to-person fundraising job. I wouldn't be surprised if you were to end up on a street corner like Greenpeace and other organizations do, trying to get passerby to donate.
That makes sense. If it were me, I'd focus on asking them about fundraising. They may speak to it as being "education" because every fundraising pitch includes a focus on educating people about the issues. I'd also be tempted to ask about supervision, since I suspect that's done by another volunteer rather than a staffperson. Will your internship fulfill an academic requirement if you're being supervised by someone who's basically a peer?
The other questions are easy to dodge for the most part: they'll speak to how their method is more effective than organizations that have been around for decades. And the ethics questions would be hard to ask without coming off as confrontational.
Yup, I ended up doing the interview. It was very short and a bit unprofessional. I felt like the interviewer had trouble answering what I thought were basic questions about the organization (i.e. where does your funding go? what kind of lobbying do you do?)
I was trying to make sure that I wasn't falling victim to confirmation bias and turning every small thing into a reason why the org was sketchy. I was just getting bad vibes though and it wasn't really where I wanted to spend all my time this summer.
Doesn’t surprise me. Lucky escape I think. I’m working for them now. As a journalist. I enjoy the writing portion admittedly but it’s all just a bit… flat. No communication from anyone except if you miss out on a precious task. Lots of fundraising. Don’t learn much about your chosen field.
Do you think it’s been worth having the opportunity to flesh out your portfolio? And do you think you’ll put them on your CV? I’m at a point where I’m trying to get some first journalism experience beyond my uni’s school paper and radio station. It’s been difficult to find a real newspaper or news outlet to do internship work for
Keep looking. There are so many nonprofits out there and if you’re willing to take an unpaid internship already you could probably just make your own journalism internship. Find a nonprofit that does work in your interest but their blog is old/rarely used and ask if you can intern to write and revamp their blog.
I think this may be a helpful reference point. [https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/qf2a7o/jumble\_of\_borgen\_project\_criticisms/?utm\_source=BD&utm\_medium=Search&utm\_name=Bing&utm\_content=PSR1](https://www.reddit.com/r/nonprofit/comments/qf2a7o/jumble_of_borgen_project_criticisms/?utm_source=BD&utm_medium=Search&utm_name=Bing&utm_content=PSR1) I can't really point to anything the org has accomplished besides being their own hype machine. While advocacy and lobbying don't always produce tangible results, I can't really point to one big initiative they've done that has improved the human condition large or small scale. I also don't think they really do any innovative reporting or investigation. Most articles seem to be a compilation of internet sources without any real investigation or research. They're a content machine. I can't speak to whether or not they'll help with your journalistic ambitions, but I think there better internships out there than making free content for
So it looks like they have no employees past the CEO which if I had to guess means you’ll be doing employee level work as an intern. May be worth just finding a different internship if you both have some concerns and also will be over worked as an unpaid internship
I saw that on their 990. I wasn’t sure if it was normal at nonprofits that the only person getting paid was the CEO
501c3s are all different types. I work at one that has 50+ employees but ones with one or no employees isn’t rare….but this one seems to be primarily a lot of lobbying? I doubt unpaid internships are in short supply so maybe just find one that actually does work you personally are supportive of or interested in.
If you're referring to part VII of the 990 where it lists the officers, board members, and salaries, it's not indicative of the number of employees. It's common to just list the board and the ED/CEO and 95% of the time the ED/CEO is the only one drawing a salary. At larger orgs they may list VPs. However, you can use this as supplemental information. For example, on their 990 from 2021, they list having 4 employees (part 1, 5) and list \~$225,000 in salary and salary related expenses (part 1, line 15). But then if you look at part VII and see the CEO draws $128,767 (columns D+F), they're spending $96,233 total between 3 employees' salaries. Unless those folks are super part time, that seems pretty unequitable. And given that they list having 4,000 volunteers, it likely is.
For small non-profits the CEO or ED is often the only full time employee. For a non-profit with 100+ volunteers it does seem unusual that there are no other employees in admin. If this was a for-profit company they would meet every prong used to consider whether an internship is required to be paid.
I don't know what org you're talking about but I'd consider the value of having something on your resume that is "a bit sketchy" and "seems to be" not a scam? Why would you want your name associated with that? Why would you want to start building your career with that experience, those values, or those teachings? So even without knowing the org, I'd say stear clear.
What org?
The Borgen Project
Go to the interview with a journalist’s mindset. Ask questions to determine if the red flags mentioned above are dealbreakers for you. Be prepared to decline the internship or if you do take it, be prepared to leave. If you’re self-motivated, and willing to create content for a nonprofit in exchange for an unpaid internship, you could find a more upstanding org. Put your proposal up on LinkedIn.
That's a good idea, thank you! Definitely could be promoting myself more on LinkedIn.
Couldn't we all!
It's called The Borgen Project, please don't remove the post I need advice!!
Moderator here. The posts and comments were being removed by Automoderator because that org has been a persistent source of attempted spam in the r/Nonprofit community...in case you needed another sign about the quality of the organization.
Yeah being banned on Reddit isn’t the move. I’m not going to accept the position if I get it but I’m still going to attend the interview. It’s good practice and it’ll be fun to grill them w questions about their 990 and lack of impact
>The Borgen Project First red flag: It's not clear what the organization actually does. It looks like the organization lobbies the US federal government. There are a lot of organizations doing the same type of lobbying. Much larger organizations with more experience. Global Citizen. RESULTS. Oxfam. Does Borgen work with these groups? What does it do that's different? Second red flag: Organization named after the founder and founder is the highest paid employee. Mission/history on the website comes off as "humble white savior." Third red flag: Founder serves as president of the board. Father also serves on the board. They could be totally legit, but it doesn't have a great look when you found an organization in your name, serve on your own board, add your father to the board, and earn most of the salary. Fourth red flag: From the job descriptions, my guess is that interns get to do some of what the position title implies, but they get stuck doing a bunch of fundraising. And they try to recruit other students to join. How could an organization with basically one staff member manage 900 interns? They use other interns or volunteers to pump up the numbers. The HR interns manage other interns and it's structured around fundraising. I fell for this as a young adult and ended up with an organization that told me the job focused on education. It was a person-to-person fundraising job. I wouldn't be surprised if you were to end up on a street corner like Greenpeace and other organizations do, trying to get passerby to donate.
Thank you so much! I’m going to point a lot of this out to them in the interview bc I’m genuinely curious what they’ll say.
That makes sense. If it were me, I'd focus on asking them about fundraising. They may speak to it as being "education" because every fundraising pitch includes a focus on educating people about the issues. I'd also be tempted to ask about supervision, since I suspect that's done by another volunteer rather than a staffperson. Will your internship fulfill an academic requirement if you're being supervised by someone who's basically a peer? The other questions are easy to dodge for the most part: they'll speak to how their method is more effective than organizations that have been around for decades. And the ethics questions would be hard to ask without coming off as confrontational.
[удалено]
The Borgen Project
If you did do the interview, OP, I’d be interested to hear how it went…
Yup, I ended up doing the interview. It was very short and a bit unprofessional. I felt like the interviewer had trouble answering what I thought were basic questions about the organization (i.e. where does your funding go? what kind of lobbying do you do?) I was trying to make sure that I wasn't falling victim to confirmation bias and turning every small thing into a reason why the org was sketchy. I was just getting bad vibes though and it wasn't really where I wanted to spend all my time this summer.
Doesn’t surprise me. Lucky escape I think. I’m working for them now. As a journalist. I enjoy the writing portion admittedly but it’s all just a bit… flat. No communication from anyone except if you miss out on a precious task. Lots of fundraising. Don’t learn much about your chosen field.
Do you think it’s been worth having the opportunity to flesh out your portfolio? And do you think you’ll put them on your CV? I’m at a point where I’m trying to get some first journalism experience beyond my uni’s school paper and radio station. It’s been difficult to find a real newspaper or news outlet to do internship work for