Advancement Intern

About the Position

Ownership Works is seeking an Advancement Intern to support the Advancement team’s fundraising, prospect research, donor engagement, and team operations. This role is ideal for someone who is highly organized, curious, detail-oriented, and interested in learning how nonprofit fundraising works inside a fast-growing, mission-driven organization.

The Advancement Intern will help the team research existing donors and prospective supporters, map relationships across O.W.’s networks to support outreach, draft and organize fundraising materials, and help synthesize team activity into clear notes, next steps, and project updates. This individual will gain exposure to nonprofit fundraising strategy, donor cultivation and stewardship, prospect management, relationship mapping, and internal systems that support high-quality Advancement work. They will also gain exposure across the organization and be expected to share learnings on workflow automation and operations optimization.

This is a strong opportunity for someone interested in inclusive capitalism, economic justice, philanthropy, nonprofit strategy, development operations, and/or relationship management.

What you’ll gain

• Hands-on experience supporting fundraising and donor engagement in a growing nonprofit.
• Exposure to philanthropic strategy across individual, corporate, and foundation donors.
• Experience conducting prospect and donor research and translating findings into actionable insights.
• Familiarity with pledge agreements, fundraising documentation, donor records, and stewardship workflows.
• Opportunities to learn how Salesforce and other knowledge management tools support fundraising operations.
• Opportunity to prototype and implement solutions with tangible organizational impact.
• Mentorship and collaboration with a high-performing, cross-functional team.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct web research on potential funders, including institutions, foundations, and individuals, and recommend process improvements to strengthen sourcing & engagement.
• Prepare concise research briefs that summarize donor background, philanthropic priorities, giving history, professional affiliations, and potential connection points to O.W.
• Take notes in Advancement team meetings and synthesize key decisions, action items, and follow-up needs.
• Help track team activities, workflows, and priorities so information is easy to find, share, and act on.
• Support preparation for external meetings by contributing to briefing documents & presentations.
• Support enhancements to knowledge management systems to improve how information is organized, accessed, and utilized across funder types.
• Prototype and test tools, agents, or workflow solutions for priority use cases (e.g., briefing materials, funder research).
• Develop clear documentation and guidance to support team-wide implementation of new workflows and tools.
• Present findings and recommendations to relevant team leads.
• Provide general administrative and project support to the Advancement team.

Qualifications

• Strong research skills and the ability to synthesize information clearly and concisely.
• Background in fundraising, team leadership, organizing, consulting, or a related field (coursework or practical experience in strategy development a plus).
• Comfort working in fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments such as startups or nonprofits.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to translate ideas into practical solutions.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, including the ability to ask questions, synthesize findings, prepare materials, and present recommendations clearly.
• Self-starter with strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Passion for social/economic justice and the mission of Ownership Works.

At Ownership Works, we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this position but your experience doesn’t precisely align with every qualification, we encourage you to still apply. 

Equal Opportunity Employer

Ownership Works is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other legally protected status.

Compensation

Interns will be expected to work from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday – Friday, for 10 weeks. The pay for this role is $17 an hour.

Location & Timeline

O.W. is building a New York City-based team. The team works from our brand-new Midtown Manhattan office space two days per week. We are aiming to have this role begin in June.

E-Verify

We use the federal E-Verify system to confirm the employment authorization of all newly hired employees.

About Ownership Works

Launched in 2022, Ownership Works (O.W.) is a fast-growing nonprofit organization with a mission to foster economic wellbeing for workers and create thriving workplaces through the power of shared ownership. O.W. helps companies and investors implement shared ownership programs that make every employee an owner and honor the collective effort behind a company’s success. At scale, employee ownership can help millions of workers build savings and wealth, often for the first time, at businesses that are more dynamic, resilient, and successful.

O.W. has set an ambitious goal of creating at least $20 billion of wealth for workers by 2030 and, over the long term, making broad-based employee ownership the new norm at work. To achieve these goals, O.W. has two areas of focus:

Movement Building. Through partnerships, network-building, education, data, and storytelling, O.W. is building a movement to increase the adoption of shared ownership by private and public companies. Over 100 private equity firms, financial institutions, foundations, labor advocates, and pension funds have joined the O.W. Consortium as partners and made unprecedented commitments to advance the shared ownership movement.

Client Advisory Services. In collaboration with its partners, O.W. helps public and private companies implement broad-based employee ownership programs that improve corporate cultures, increase employee engagement and satisfaction, and create an alignment of interests between employees and employers, all of which can support better outcomes for companies and workers. Since O.W.’s founding, 180 companies have implemented shared ownership programs, reaching over 250,000 workers.

Ownership Works is certified as a Great Place To Work.

For more about O.W.’s programs and impact, visit https://ownershipworks.org.