Internship: Staff Lunches

Korrin B.

August 14, 2010 - 6:40 PM

As the final weeks of my internship approached, I decided that I wanted to make sure to really get to know some of the staff that I've been working with all summer. It is easy to not get to know some of The Carter Center staff very well because everyone is kind of in their own section and working on their own projects. It is important to make that effort to get out and talk to people. Therefore, throughout my last couple of weeks, I set up lunches with various Carter Center staff in order to learn a little bit more about what their roles are at the Center and to see how they got there. I had lunch with four different people and each was a great experience. I am very happy that I decided to do this before I left.

The first lunch I had was with one of the Gift Officers in the Major Gifts department. It is her job to travel to her assigned states and meet in person with our donors and potential donors. She cultivates relationships with the donors and eventually does "the ask" for a donation. I have heard her throughout my internship on the other side of my cubicle wall making phone call after phone call to set up lunch and coffee dates in preparation her trips. After having lunch with her, I could tell that she is the perfect person for the job. She is very enthusiastic, friendly, and easy to talk to. I could see donors being very comfortable with her. I think that to be in that part of development, it is imperative to be personable like she is. After having lunch with her, she invited me over to her desk several times to show me different things about what she was doing so that I could learn as much as I could. It was great that she did this.

My second lunch was with the Chief Development Officer (CDO) for Major Gifts. She actually works from San Francisco and flies into Atlanta about once a month to connect with what is going on at the Center. Like the Gift Officer, she was very personable and open to talking. I think my favorite part about talking with her was how much she really loved her job. She told me that any challenges she ever experienced were worth it because she honestly loved what she did. She came from a lot of experience doing fundraising for universities and told me that she enjoyed doing it for The Carter Center much more because it is an organization that she can see really making positive changes in the world for those who need it most. She really believes in its mission. Her thoughts reminded me of the nonprofit classes I have taken through the PPPM department at the UO. Each class always seemed to drive home the idea that you work for a nonprofit because you whole-heartedly believe in all that it does. If you can't truly get behind what a nonprofit is doing, then it isn't a good match for you. It was nice to have lunch with our CDO and see how passionate she is about the Center's work. That is how I'd like to be for a nonprofit someday. Our CDO also set me up with a later meeting with a staff member in the mental health department after learning about my interest in homelessness. This was a great connection to make.

My third lunch was with the Director of Educational Programs. She is the main person that oversees the interns. I think that she has a really amazing position, as she gets to interact with so many amazing students and recent graduates. It seems like such a fun job getting to organize events for interns. I would like to have a position someday that allows me to interact with people like her position does. It was nice getting to learn more about her and share some of my internship experience with her. She has always been a great resource to the interns.

My final lunch was with the Vice President of Operations. I was very humbled that someone of his position would find the time to have lunch with an intern. He has a very interesting background and I really enjoyed hearing his stories. He grew up in Plains, Georgia just like President Carter did and actually used to be babysat by Miss Lillian Carter. He told me about his experiences campaigning for President Carter, working in the White House, and ending up at The Carter Center. He also told me that one of the best things he ever did was take out a loan after he graduated from college to just go traveling all throughout Europe before starting to work at the White House. I also enjoyed that he knew about work that I had done and seemed very grateful for my contribution to the Center this summer.

If I could change one thing about how I went about my internship this summer, I would have gone back and started having lunch with different staff members earlier on so that I could get to know even more of them. It made me feel more connected to the organization and helped me to get a better understanding of why people come to work for The Carter Center.