In your summer job with The Fund, you will not only make a difference, but you will also get the kind of communication and leadership skills you’ll need for your future career. You’ll learn how to raise money, manage and train your own team, work with the media and lobby elected officials.
Develop and refine communication skills
Communication skills are at the center of any career. The Fund’s training focuses on teaching communication skills beginning on your first day, and runs the gamut from basic public speaking trainings to advanced listening and judgment skills. We specialize in giving our staff the skills and experience they need to talk to anyone, whether they be coworkers or regular citizens, about important issues.
Learn how to:
- Effectively communicate our message to community members and persuade them to get involved with our work.
- Hone your public speaking skills.
- Successfully fundraise.
- Communicate expectations to new trainees.
Hone leadership skills
For those of you looking for more out of a job, look no further. Leadership opportunities abound in our campaign offices and we provide the trainings you’ll need to succeed. Need to learn principles for teaching others? What about how to set goals, motivate your team and hold them accountable? Find all of that and more in our canvass offices. We run multiple leadership trainings every week and give our field managers and trainers the feedback and confidence they need to excel.
Learn how to:
- Run skill sessions and trainings for new staff.
- Provide feedback to new staff in order to improve their skills and performance.
- Oversee and manage staff in the office and in the field.
- Recruit new staff to join your campaign.
Learn key campaign skills
Working with the media, contacting supporters, building consensus amongst movers and shakers in the community—these are the kinds of skills you need in all sorts of work. The Fund provides opportunities for staff to learn and practice these skills through our campaign actions.
Learn how to:
- Work with local media groups to build visibility about the campaign.
- Organize news conferences highlighting key issues about the campaign.
- Organize and run a phone bank.
- Organize petitioning efforts and deliver petitions to our local elected officials.
- Lobby elected officials.
Unlock opportunities
Any good training experience sets you up to take on more responsibility and leadership in the future. A summer with The Fund is no different. The training you receive in your first summer on the job prepares you to have an even bigger impact when you return for subsequent summers.
In your second summer, you may:
- Play a bigger leadership role in the office, as a field manager or lead field manager (running meetings, training new field managers).
- Lead aspects of the campaign such as a lobby day or a camping trip to a politically important district.
- Pursue internship opportunities with PIRG and Environment America.
- Top staff are invited to run their own campaigns.
The places you can go
Here are just some people that got their start working in one of our summer campaign offices.
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, Washington’s 6th Congressional District
In 1992, while in college at Princeton University, Rep. Kilmer canvassed with the Fund on clean water protections.
After completing more schooling, he ran in his first election in Washington state in 2004. From 2005 to 2007, he served as a member of the Washington State House of Representatives, and from 2007 to 2013 he was a member of the Washington State Senate representing the 26th district. Rep. Kilmer has been serving Washington’s 6th congressional district since 2013.
Eric Garcetti, Mayor, City of Los Angeles
During his college career at Columbia University, Eric Garcetti canvassed with the Fund during the summer in Santa Barbara.
In 2000, Garcetti ran for and won the open seat for the state Assembly in Los Angeles city council district 13. In 2013, Garcetti was elected Mayor of Los Angeles. He was re-elected in 2017.
Other organizations our alum currently work with: Sierra Club, Corporate Accountability, Greenpeace, Union of Concerned Scientists, NRDC, M+R, LCV & affiliates, Grassroots Campaigns, Pew Research Center, 360 Campaign Consulting, Food & Water Watch, National Wildlife Federation, The Wilderness Society, SEIU, The Management Center, The Nature Conservancy, Waxman Strategies/Mighty Earth, Environmental Defense Fund, Common Cause & affiliates, ACLU, Clean Water Action, Center for American Progress, Western Resource Advocates, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Ceres, Western Conservation Foundation, California Solar & Storage Association, The Energy Foundation, AFL-CIO, Economic Security Project, Dogwood Alliance, DNC, America Votes, Consumer Watchdog (and, of course, many working at the federal government, state government and various universities).
