The InternLink Program

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SponsorLink LLC was founded in 2012 to connect national and local non-profit organizations with corporate resources. SponsorLink offices are located within Charlotte North Carolina’s business corridor that spans from Ballantyne to Uptown, convenient to the I-485 beltline that connects the greater Charlotte area. The company focus is building a non- profit’s organizational capacity through the support services that range from executive volunteer recruitment for Board/ Committee service to sponsorship management. It’s internship recruitment and management program, InternLink provides a valuable learning experience for interns that look to build their resume with a meaningful real-work experience, through advancing business objectives of clients.

As a first step, an interview is scheduled and conducted either in person or electronically by InternLink staff with each potential intern to explore their personal goals and objectives. To that end, the interview process helps determine the best client placement for each intern. Given the nature of our corporation, it is important that internship candidates believe in furthering the mission of their assigned client.

An introductory Meeting is then arranged/conducted with the intern and the proposed-client to review the intern’s learning objectives and accordingly determine appropriate projects and a specific ‘coordinator’ title (as opposed to an ‘intern’ title). Interns may be involved in various projects throughout their tenure, which are based on the number of scheduled hours/days per week committed in advance by the intern. Interns are supervised by and are assigned a direct reporting relationship within the client’s staff in an assigned department and/or other executives, depending on the project.

As their work is “real”, interns are ideally treated like staff members, as clients count on their support. Interns participate in a weekly meeting with the client to report on the status of their projects, and to better understand how their work fits into the organization as a whole. Interns are encouraged to participate in different aspects of the office environment as it directly related to their projects, which may include: recommending and maintaining policies and procedures, researching and presenting documentation, designing and creating organizational systems, etc.

Each intern is assigned specific projects that are essential to the operations of the department -- this provides an opportunity for project ownership. Projects are tailored specifically to that individual intern, based on aptitude and interests; commitment of hours; and the projects available as they have yet to be assigned. Projects are substantial based on the capabilities of the intern and offer a wide variety of learning opportunities. Projects are assigned to maximize the experience of the internship. As a broad example, usually “numbers” related projects are designed for accounting and finance majors – this may include projects such as creating a weekly department status report to track funds for various campaigns; designing accounting systems to track expenses; etc. “Words” related projects are created for communications majors; may include designing a multi-media major gift proposal, for example. Progress

is monitored through an intern’s project time log completing 200 hours on average – usually conducted at 15 hours per week over a 14-week period that coincides with a university’s term schedule (fall/ spring/summer). As in the current business world, much of the work can be conducted remotely (answering,emails, research, planning, etc.).

InternLink regularly convenes meetings with all interns to support their assimilation, sharing valuable tips in the business world, all to increase an intern’s project management and time management abilities and build their self-confidence throughout the internship. www.SponsorLinkLLC.com/internlink