First Weeks as a Development Intern! (Environment/Initial Impressions)

This summer I am interning in the Development Department at the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan! Technically, my internship started on Monday, May 5th, but I met my supervisor and colleagues the weekend prior because I volunteered to help with a fundraising event they were having at the Detroit Zoo on the 2nd and the 3rd, Walk for Wishes. It was a cool event, but my supervisor was really busy and stressed out making sure everything ran smoothly so I didn't see too much of her, but I talked with a lot of the other employees at Make-a-Wish.

After Walk for Wishes and my first few weeks on the job, I can say that every single employee at the office is female and with the exception of one, all of them are white. There are a few males that are in the office for a few hours a week to help with IT/tech issues, but I'm not sure if they are employed by an outside company or the Make-a-Wish Foundation. There is, however, a wide range of ages represented, ranging from early 20's to late 50's. There are also other interns that work in other departments, so I don't feel like the only newbie.

Everybody is super friendly, laid back, and willing to help me out as much as possible. Everyone seems to get along very well and doesn't step on each other's toes (which surprised me considering it's all women). Everyone pitches in to help their colleagues even if they work in other departments and aren't expected to help.

My supervisor always has lot of tasks for me to do which I am really thankful for because I was worried about being bored and not useful. For the first few days of my internship I didn't work with my supervisor as much because I had to help count all of the donations that came in from Walk for Wishes and make copies of all of the checks and cash slips. However, my work has gotten a lot more interesting since then. Everyday, I am helping my supervisor process the Third Party License Agreements. These are agreements that outside organizations sign when they want to hold an event that benefits Make-a-Wish. I work on preparing these folders, preparing emails that my supervisor sends to the third parties, entering the events into Raiser's Edge (a computer program), sending these third parties any materials they may need, confirming the total funds we receive from them, and sending them certificates and thank you cards for the work they do for Make-a-Wish. I am really loving it so far! I have also been told that knowledge of Raiser's Edge is a great asset to my resume because most non-profits use it and it is very expensive to receive formal training in it, so I am thankful that I am learning a little bit about how to use it now. I can definitely see myself doing non-profit work in the future!