Program Overview

To support the cause of reducing barriers to youth employment, Eco-Internships has supported over 180 youth in 5 provinces by matching them with 70 environmental organizations through our Intern Support Program (ISP). Furthermore, 63% of the youth participants have been able to secure a full-time job within 3 months of completing their placement, showcasing the ISP’s success in preparing youths to participate in the labor market. We have supported youths all across the country including Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Alberta.

The goal of the Intern Support Program is to provide skill development and practical experience to help youth advance their careers. These skills apply to nonprofits, but they are also transferable skills that can be utilized in various sectors. Some interns continued their careers in the non-profit sector, whereas others have moved on to work in government, or private sectors in STEM-related fields.

The interns work for 30 hours/week for a minimum of 26 weeks, where they spend most of their time on organizational projects, with a designated number of hours every month devoted to non-profit training and mentorship. While Eco-Internships is a relatively new organization, our work-building capacity for grassroots organizations stretches back over seven years. Based on our experience, the strength of intern support is a major factor in fostering success - for both the employer as well as the intern.

Why Hire Interns?

Many of us don’t have stable funding to sustain core payroll for full-time staff, so working with interns is a great way to:

#1 Build Capacity & Increase YOUR impact!

#2 Improve Organizational Diversity

#3 Provide opportunities for youth to gain experience in the environmental sector

#4 Develop the leadership and soft skills interns need to succeed and strengthen the nonprofit community

#5 Create opportunities that build workforce development, leading to stable and permanent positions for the organization and the intern

2022 Ottawa interns at the Sustainable Capacity Solutions shared office space.

Mandatory Training

All interns will be enrolled in a non-profit training program, focusing on nonprofit basics, including communications, fundraising, governance and more!

Intern Non-Profit Training Course

To ensure a successful placement, Eco-Internships has partnered with the Capacity Building Institute to provide nonprofit training to all interns participating in our program. The training includes a specialized, self-directed, 70-hour training course with 25 hours of live and virtual sessions and roughly 45 hours of readings, video tutorials, and assignments. Additionally, the course includes presentations from nonprofit experts on various topics in the sector to provide real-world insight. The intern is expected to attend a one-week intensive training boot camp and 2-hour monthly check-ins throughout their internship. These live sessions are mandatory to attend and count as working hours. In addition to the online materials, there are six assignments to complete. Once all the assignments have been completed, the intern will receive an official “certification of completion” and lifetime access to the course materials.

Intern Mentorship

The Intern Mentor is a supporting role in helping interns in their positions. Each Mentor will have up to 10 interns to work with throughout the internship. The purpose of the Intern Mentor is to support and guide the youth intern, especially when working for a small organization with no other staff. In these cases, interns can feel isolated and lost during their internship. They must have some direct feedback and support to help make the internship a success. Mentors are NOT supervisors - instead, they are more like coaches, cheerleaders sounding boards, and supporters.