Leading EDGE: End of Summer 2024 Recap

August 20, 2024
Shelby Truxon
Blog, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Leading EDGE Employers, Leading EDGE Students

We made it to the end of the third Leading EDGE Internship cohort!

The summer kicked off with 13 dedicated employers looking to host 20 college students from schools in D.C., MD, VA and NYC for 10-week internships. In addition to hosting, employers signed up to work alongside The Nonprofit Alliance Foundation on our efforts to diversify the industry by creating nonprofit career opportunities for college students, including those in underrepresented and first-generation student populations, within the employer job market; and enable first job placements that can lead to a career path in the social good sector. From there, this talented group of college students worked with and learned from their employers in various roles such as marketing, IT, fundraising, data analytics, and community outreach.

Interns and employers included:

Allyyah Aali with Shatterproof
Daniel Brusch with The Expectations Project
Evie Chhetry with Mo o re
Virti Choksi with Capital Area Food Bank
Avery Davis with Shatterproof
Jasmine Dean with Government Employee’s Benefit Association (GEBA)
Andrea Flores with PMG
Saisha Handoo with Moore
Amelia Jansen with Trinity Missions
Camille Koslo with K2D Strategies

Sophia Lemley with Smile Train
Nicole Moccio with Orr Group
Rachel Mokriski with The Nonprofit Alliance
Nabila Nishat Raisa with Orr Group
Clare Smith with Moore
Serena Song with Moore
Jason Taylor with Moore
Merin Thomas with Capital Area Food Bank
Donovan Wayman with Lautman Maska Neill & Company
Taylor Wilbon with Fuse Fundraising

Read more about our interns here.

In addition to receiving a hands-on learning experience, many of our interns attended industry conferences, met with senators on Capitol Hill, participated in company retreats, used their photography skills, and hung out with colleagues after work. For the first time ever, local DC area interns were also invited to volunteer together alongside TNPA staff at A Wider Circle in Silver Spring, MD.

Click to watch Rachel’s Hill Day experience.

TNPA Staff and Leading EDGE Interns in a group photo at A Wider Circle.

Interns and TNPA staff, Shannon McCracken and Shelby Truxon, volunteering at A Wider Circle.

As part of the program, interns were introduced to industry professionals through Leading EDGE Lunch n’ Learns and webinar events. Topics included an overview of the nonprofit sector, nonprofit technology and data, and the profession of nonprofit management. For the third year in a row, our annual “What I Wish I Knew” and “Next Gen Panel” webinar events were a hit with students and interns from all over!

Hear from these interns on their summer experiences:

Click to read about Taylor Wilbon’s summer at Fuse Fundraising.

Click to read about Clare Smith’s summer at Moore.

Click to read about Xinyi (Serena) Song’s summer at Moore.

Click to read about
Andrea Flore’s summer at PMG.

Click to read about
Jason Taylor’s summer at Moore.

CONGRATS and all the best to our amazing interns! It truly was another great summer for Leading EDGE and cohort #3! Next up is cohort #4 in the D.C., New York City, and Chicago areas for summer 2025. Read more about our program on tnpa.org/leading_edge/ and stay tuned for 2025 open enrollment.

Donovan Wayman (from the University of Maryland) volunteering at A Wider Circle.

Evie Chhetry (L) from the University of Maryland and Nabila Nishat Raisa (R) from American University volunteering at A Wider Circle. — Donovan Wayman (from the University of Maryland) volunteering at A Wider Circle.

Special THANK YOU to everyone who helped this year:

Employer Hosts

Kelsey Luchey
Shatterproof

Laura Jeske, Gaby Massie, and Riley Chitwood
Capital Area Food Bank

Jaime Grams
PMG

Margaret Romig
Lautman Maska Neill & Company

Aimee Nichols
Trinity Missions

Dana Drever Courtney Lewis, Sydney Paner, and Caroline Blosser
Fuse Fundraising

Gretchen Littlefield, Joe Bouchard, Nick Ellinger, Preston Linville, Mike Crump, and Nik Miller Moore

Jennifer Deerr and
Jeph Christoff
K2D Strategies

Julie Wagner and
Sarah Ingle
Smile Train

Taylor Gates and
Victoria Becker
Orr Group

Brandy Shine, Lena Anglin, and Cami King
The Expectations Project

Shelly Giuliano Government Employee’s Benefit Association (GEBA)

Bob Tigner
The Nonprofit Alliance