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Get Involved with IFC!
Summer Internship Opportunities
Jump to Volunteer Opportunities
Background:
Interns in the past from many different intern programs as well as from direct approaches to the InterFaith Conference (IFC) have rated highly the valuable “hands-on” experience they have gained and the opportunities created by being part of a small and collegial staff team. The IFC brings together 11 world religions from Baha’i to Zoroastrian dedicated both to deepen understanding and to work collaboratively for justice in the national Capital region.
Interns have also really appreciated their participation in weekly staff meetings as well as the opportunity to lead them periodically. Interns have also been glad to be able to attend meetings of the Board of Directors and the InterFaith Conference Assembly (our larger stakeholders’ group), both of which have persons from our diverse member faith communities as representatives.
Desired Skills:
- a willingness to work with persons of diverse faiths is required. Please give specific examples, if you can, in your email application.
- experience with diverse faith communities and a personal faith commitment are very helpful but not required.
- being detailed oriented and being ready to work as part of a team while doing one's own work is very important. Please give specific examples in your email application.
- familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite is important; familiarity with it in a windows environment is very helpful.
1) Intern Opportunity: Prepare the 29th Edition of the Emergency Food, Shelter and Health Care Directory The Directory isthe most comprehensive compact directory of its kind in the region and lists some 400 organizations and agencies providing emergency food, shelter, health care and other resources. Carefully updating each entry, you will learn a lot more about metro area food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and medical clinics for those with little or no health insurance. Research has shown that at least 300,000 families and individuals get the help they need through appropriate referrals made by non-profits, congregations, government agencies and others using our annually updated Directory. Helping us distribute the 7000 copies of the 27th Edition is a small but important part of this internship – most are already distributed free of charge by us, the United Way and the Council of Governments in this region.
2) Intern Opportunity: Supporing Dinner Dialogues. Using materials already developed and working with a few persons trained by us to lead dialogues, an intern will support this unique opportunity for small groups of persons of diverse faiths to gather in peoples’ home, sharing a meal and engaging in interfaith dialogue.
3) Intern Opportunity: Assist Executive Director This position will enable the intern to learn about the many facets of non-profit work, working alongside Rev. Dr. Clark Lobenstine,
perhaps the only person in the world to lead an inter-religious organization for more than 30 years. S/he will, for example, be involved in many aspects of the Executive Director’s work such as going to meetings with him as well as Board meetings with persons of diverse faiths. There is a degree of freedom in this position, enabling the intern to partly determine his or her own focus and identify areas where she or he can best make a contribution.
4) Intern Opportunity: Fund-raising and Grant-writing for the Non-Profit Hands-on learning about fund-raising and grant writing for a non-profit organization is a key to working in this field! The InterFaith Conference's Executive Director brings more than 30 years of experience. The intern will work with the Executive Director in the fund-raising aspects of a small metropolitan area non-profit. In addition to helping the InterFaith Conference with current fund-raising, you will research and draft a grant proposal for one part of IFC's vital work, explore potential foundation sources using the Foundation Center and submit the grant to one or more foundations. While their actions will no doubt be after the completion of your internship, we'll let you know what they decide. Renewing existing funders and finding new ones for the 29th Edition of the Emergency Food, Shelter and Health Care Directory is a priority. Please note in your email any experience you may have had with a fund-raising event and/or grant writing.
5) Intern Opportunity: Interreligious work to Advance Justice. Build Community and Nurture Understanding. Work with our part-time Program Consultant, Ann Delorey, as we work programmatically. This may include developing and/or acting on our public policy statements, responding to regional threats to religious freedom, collaborating on our quarterly “InterFaith Connect” e-newsletter and helping her staff a quarterly meeting of our InterFaith Legislative Review Committee (InterFaith Center for Advancing Justice); helping her build the steering committee for one of our Centers (InterFaith Center for Building Community); and/or helping her and the InterFaith Center for Nurturing Understanding in its work on strengthening the teaching about religion (STAR project) in public, private and parochial high schools. (The STAR resource book for high school teachers in social studies, world history and/or world religions includes 9-11 page chapters written by a member of each of our 11 member faith communities (from Baha’i to Zoroastrian) in response to the same set of 42 questions. More than 1,400 copies of it have been distributed, most sold to area school systems.) S/he may also work with her and one of our InterFaith Centers on planning one of the three public dialogues at the end of our three Assembly meetings each year.
6) Intern Opportunity: Assistant InterFaith Concert Organizer. The intern will assist the Executive Director in planning the world's best-developed multi-religious concert. The 34th InterFaith Concert will be held at Washington Hebrew Congregation, on Tuesday evening, Nov. 19, 2013, the region’s largest synagogue and is also the largest fund-raising event for the InterFaith Conference. The Board of Directors has voted that the 34th InterFaith Concert will be held in honor of Rev. Clark Lobenstine’s 34 years of leading the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington. Please note in your email any interest or experience you have in event planning and/or in a fund-raising event.
7) Intern Opportunity: Increase media’s exposure to interfaith news in this region
A particularly good opportunity for a communications or media student! The Intern will assist the Executive Director in increasing the media’s exposure to interfaith news in this region through traditional media and social media.
To Apply to any of these non-stipended internship opportunities, please use as your subject line “SUMMER, 2013, INTERN APPLICATION” so your email does not get buried in an overload of emails! Send your email inquiry and resume to ifc@ifcmw.org THANKS!
There are many ways to get involved with IFC including volunteering, interning and contributing financially. IFC is constantly looking for individuals to help us out in various projects from youth service events to weekly or monthly visits to help out in our offices for a few hours.
The following are just a few opportunities:
Publicity volunteer - help get the word out about IFC events in your local congregation or organization. We need individuals who will share IFC's wonderful opportunities to deepen understanding and work collaboratively among peoples of many faiths.
Ushers, greeters, and other volunteers - for annual events such as the InterFaith Concert: A Celebration of the Sacred in Song, Dance and Chant, IFC's Bridge Builders Awards and the Richard W. Snowdon Lecture and Martin Luther King Prayer Services.
Volunteering can lead to some very remarkable experiences with people of extremely cultures, backgrounds and faiths!
If you are interested in volunteering or interning, please contact Reverend Clark Lobenstine, clarkifc@aol.com, or Judy Bond, judyb@ifcmw.org or call 202-234-6300
Online donations are always welcome or send contributions to:
InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington
The Gate House 100 Allison St. NW
Washington, DC 20011
