Author: icedar

Final Reflections: A Summer at United for a Fair Economy

My internship at United for a Fair Economy (UFE) provided me with so much more than I expected. I went into this internship with the goal of gaining a better understanding of how a nonprofit organization actually operates. Interning at UFE helped me gain a more comprehensive understanding about the processes involved in successfully and efficiently running an organization.

UFE gave me the opportunity to work in many departments which gave me a holistic understanding of a nonprofit. When a staff member went away for a couple months I took over all donation processing; I worked on data analysis and graphic design projects; I helped the Finance department prepare for an audit by reconciling all online donations; and I was given the chance to sit in on program meetings and phone calls.

Throughout this process, I met my goal of determining if nonprofit work is actually something I could see myself doing. Getting behind-the-scenes exposure to processes made me more excited about possibly pursuing this field of work. More specifically, I really enjoyed and felt that I excelled at working in the development/communications departments at UFE, and I am now brainstorming ways to continue doing this type of work in the future.

My workspace at UFE!

Beyond meeting the goal I set for myself this summer, my internship provided me with so many unexpected lessons. For example, I learned that there is a lot more to social justice work than one can learn about in a classroom or newspaper. The work these organizations do impacts real people, with real stories, making it complicated, frustrating, and also incredibly important.

One thing that I learned about myself during this internship is how much I enjoy work that I genuinely care about. I have always prided myself on my work ethic, but I realized when I am passionate about a topic it does not feel like work.

UFE taught me how important it is to stay grounded while doing this type of work. It is really easy to distance yourself from it and see it as a chore, but it is so important to always remember what you are working for and who you are serving. Whenever there was a grounding moment – whether it was a tragic event in the news or a heartbreaking story told by someone in one of our workshops – I felt my energy, and the energy among the staff at UFE, increase drastically, which was a really interesting and beneficial environment to be in.

One of the biggest challenges I faced during my internship was not feeling like I had the authority to speak my opinions and ideas. Because I was new to the organization and the nonprofit world in general, I felt inhibited telling someone who had been working at UFE for 20 years how they should implement a program or what the best process might be to solve a conflict within the organization.

Thankfully, in a small nonprofit like UFE all opinions and ideas were valued. In fact, they were welcomed. As someone who was learning the processes for the first time, I was able to notice small details and bring a set of fresh eyes to the organization. Thus, a piece of advice I would have for someone pursuing an internship at UFE or another similar organization is that your ideas and opinions are just as valuable as those of someone who has been at the organization for a long time. In fact, one of the things I am most proud of is how my confidence rose along with my level of comfort by the end of my internship.

On one of the last days of my internship, I was given the opportunity to facilitate UFE’s biweekly staff meeting which meant creating an agenda, leading the actual meeting, and having the confidence to assert my authority to keep the staff on track or to interject my opinions about how I believed they should handle certain situations. At the beginning of my internship, I would have never believed that I could successfully lead a meeting for staff members who I felt had so much authority over me, but with the guidance, acceptance, and trust that UFE provided me, I was able to do it and I am very proud of and grateful for the opportunity.

I am incredibly grateful to everyone at UFE for providing me with such an enriching and educational summer, especially my supervisor who always gave me projects that fit my needs and interests while also allowing me to be helpful to the organization. Please check out their Facebook page and blog (as well as the rest of their website) for more information!

 

Leading a staff meeting on one of the last days of my internship! It was so fun to be given this challenge and use what UFE has taught me to successfully facilitate this meeting.eeds and interests while also allowing me to be helpful to the organization. Please check out their Facebook page and blog (as well as the rest of their website) for more information!

Midpoint at United for a Fair Economy

I am at the midpoint of my time at United for a Fair Economy and it feels like time is going by so quickly! The more I have adapted to the environment at UFE and the more I have become acquainted with the type of work I am doing there, the more I feel like a part of their community and it is hard to believe that I am halfway done with my internship. It feels like there is so much left to learn! Recently, I have been learning a lot about the finance side of non profit organizations. At first, I thought this would be more tedious and monotonous than the rest of the work I have been doing, but I have actually enjoyed it a lot because I feel like an integral part of the organization; the tasks I have been given are ones that if they were not completed, the organization would fail to run smoothly. For example, I have been in charge of all donation processing and deposits, as well as reconciling information regarding online donations in preparation for their upcoming audit. While I have been doing this, I have also been given projects that fit my interests such as creating an informational postcard to send out with some of their mailings regarding bequests. I feel very fortunate and grateful that I am being given projects and tasks that both fit my interests, teach me a lot, and also help UFE a lot. Feeling valued by the people who work at UFE has allowed me to become more passionate about the work I am doing as well as take notice to more real life issues that are relevant to UFE’s work. I have felt myself become more aware of economic injustices and feel a stronger need to fight for economic equality. Staff members periodically send articles or events related to economic justice through email as a way to keep us grounded in our work. For example, I was sent an article about internships and the fact that they are only provided to people with privilege (link to article here). Reading this article made me realize how grateful I am for the opportunities I have, and how unfair it is that not everyone is provided these opportunities, making UFE’s work so important. Similarly, I was sent an article about a protest led by immigrants against deportations (link to article here). Before working at UFE, I would have probably skimmed through this article and not given it a second thought, but after meeting people through UFE with heartbreaking stories of deportation and unequal rights as immigrants, this article sparked an anger in me that made me want to do my very best work while at UFE and spread the word about these injustices.

One of the many charts found on UFE’s website illustrating economic phenomenons that are causing inequality.

In this way, working at UFE is very different than academic life because the work is so real. In academics, a lot of what I learn comes from textbooks or lectures, and sometimes it is hard to remember that the things I am learning are reality when they are coming from words on a page or someone else’s voice. At my internship, however, I am constantly reminded that what I am doing matters because what I am doing is linked to real life people and situations. Rather than just reading about people who are experiencing economic justice, I am meeting them in person and hearing their personal stories. Rather than just having a professor tell me how to compile and analyze data in a spreadsheet, I am determining the best ways to do so for the present needs of the organization and creating reports that will be used to persuade real people to help others in need.

Another graphic produced by UFE in response to a policy in North Carolina, one of the states that they are expanding to.

Similarly, doing work that involves real people and real issues makes the work I am doing more prone to sudden changes or problems. Thus, this internship is teaching me how to creatively problem solve quickly and effectively in a way that I have never had to do before. In school, solving problems quickly and effectively is important, but only for my own success; at UFE, solving problems quickly and effectively could be the difference between getting a program funded that will help a lot of people in need, or having to cancel that program. This is a skill that I think will be useful in everything I do, whether that’s academics, work, or even interpersonal relationships and social situations. In addition, I am learning how to assert myself and ask for projects that I really want to do. This was scary at first, but my boss really appreciates it because it allows me to do work that I care about and thus will do a better job on. I look forward to the lessons I learn in the second half of my internship! 

Ilana Cedarbaum

 

First Week at United for a Fair Economy

United for a Fair Economy (UFE) is a non-profit in downtown Boston that focuses on economic justice and supporting social justice movements that are fighting for a fair economy. The organization believes that the unequal distribution of wealth (and thus power) in our country leads to a corrupt society, and that this inequality is strongly linked to deepening racial divides. UFE works towards achieving their goals through a number of ways, including trainings for workers and movement leaders that provide accessible explanations of the economy using popular education, a methodology that elicits participants’ personal experiences to identify injustices. UFE also focuses on state-based policy change and a project called Responsible Wealth, which encourages people in the top 5% to become allies and advocate for progressive policies. Further, UFE is currently expanding their programs to places like North Carolina and Minnesota.

At the Training of Trainers Institute, reflecting on the weekend (I am second from the right, in the white shirt!)

This summer I will be acting as the Development Intern, working with the Development Director who oversees the fundraising and communication with donors. My tasks include assisting with mailings such as thank you letters and appeals; updating the donor database; assisting with donation processing; and generating lists and reports based on the information in the database that relate to our mailings. I also hope to be given projects throughout my internship that will enable me to create informational materials and content for UFE’s electronic publications.

This week, I was given tasks that would allow me to get acclimated with the organization’s database in conjunction with my orientation and training. I was included in staff meetings and retreats, phone conferences, and organizational meetings between department directors which really allowed me to experience first-hand the processes of non-profit management. All of the staff members are incredibly welcoming and eager to answer my questions, and they make my own opinions and suggestions feel valuable and legitimate as well. In addition, this past weekend I attended one of their Training of Trainers Institutes, a three day training that provides movement leaders tools on how to use popular education in their own workshops. The weekend was incredibly informative, transformative, and and participants ranged from non-profit leaders to students to immigrants and refugees, each with their own stories and struggles and talents.

There were many moments of reflection on current tragic events, of spirituality in the form of circle work, and of sharing experiences that sparked a community bond and awareness of the need for social justice movements. Moreover, I was given a great introduction to popular education and how to effectively prepare and facilitate a popular education workshop, specifically regarding economic justice. Another interesting and inspiring aspect of the training was that it was completely bilingual using simultaneous interpretation. The facilitators spoke both English and Spanish while interpreters translated into headsets that all participants wore so that people who did not speak English could participate.

 

The “State of the Dream,” an infographic put out by UFE every year that discusses ways that racial divides are linked to economic injustice. (http://www.faireconomy.org/infographics)

 

 

 

 

 

During this internship, I hope to gain a better understanding of non-profit management. As I begin to think about what I want to do after I graduate, non-profit work remains at the top of my list and I hope to use this internship as a way to gain the experience necessary to effectively be a part of how a non-profit operates. Further, I hope that I can contribute to UFE in a useful and effective way. I have only been here for a week, but I already feel like an integral part of the organization and I have already become incredibly passionate towards their cause and their commitment to social justice and equality, both in their work and in the way they manage their organization by ensuring equal representation and never losing sight of their values. I hope to harness this passion and use the values and tools that I develop by being included in the managerial processes not only during this summer, but beyond.