Home » Internships at Democracy for America

Democracy for America is looking for creative, motivated and hard working young people who want to get involved in progressive politics. You will be based out of our headquarters in beautiful Burlington, VT and have the opportunity to work directly with staff and play a substantive role in your department. The hands-on experience you gain at DFA will be invaluable wherever your education and career take you.

Democracy for America has internships available in the Training, Political, Fundraising and Research, Communications, and Web/Technology departments. More information on each department is below.

Internship sessions are available in the Fall (September-December), Winter (January – February), Spring (March-May), and Summer (May-August).

To apply for a Democracy for America internship, please send a cover letter and resume to Operations Manager Emma Interlandi at operations@democracyforamerica.com. In your cover letter, please tell us with which department you would like to intern, which session, and whether you are applying for a full or part-time internship.

Democracy for America accepts applications on a rolling basis.

Training

DFA Training interns help focus, network, and train grassroots activists and DFA leaders through our nationwide Campaign Academies, Action Summits, and Night School.  These trainings will help to mobilize our over one million members by teaching them about online organizing, fundraising, voter contact, and much more.  This position will provide logistical support for the coordination of these trainings and mobilize members through blog posts, local emails, and direct voter contact.

Political

Political interns help convert online activism into real political change.  Together with the Political Department staff, interns help develop plans to elect public progressive officials, and tackle some of the biggest issues facing the country today.  In addition to researching, selecting, and working with the next generation of progressive politicians, political interns communicate with DFA members across the country about the issues that matter most to them. (Remote Field Internships are also available through the Political Department).

Fundraising

Fundraising interns connect with DFA members through social media, online presentation, phone calls, and other tools in order to make DFA's work possible.  Interns are responsible for determining current and prospective donors' giving capacity and interests, maintaining communication with VIP donors, and tracking the performance of DFA's fundraisers.  Interns are also responsible for creating, executing, and completing individual projects.  This is a great opportunity to learn the heart and soul of any political campaign or advocacy organization - the money, where it comes from, and how it is raised.  The ideal applicant is detail-oriented, well-organized, and has a great sense of humor.

Communications

Communications interns help with research, writing, editing, media tracking and e-mail correspondence to get DFA into the news. Using a variety of outlets, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, they help to spread the word about DFA, as well as helping to keep our members across the country up to date on our issues and campaigns.

Web / Technology

The Technology Department at DFA develops and maintains the main democracyforamerica.com website as well as a number of standalone "microsite" websites focused on specific issues or campaigns.  We also provide online tools for our own staff and local volunteer organizers, plus keep the computers and networks in our Burlington office running smoothly.

Interns in the Technology Department could be given a wide variety of different projects and responsibilities depending on the individual's existing skill set and interests.  Examples of projects interns could be asked to do include

• Use your graphic design skills to create the visual design for a new "microsite" website
• Use your HTML / CSS / design skills to build out new pages on our website, or make existing pages look and work better
• Use your Ruby on Rails skills to build a new feature on our website, or help our staff quickly find the data they need
• Use your Facebook App development skills to help us launch a new campaign on Facebook
• Use your Javascript/JQuery skills to make our site more dynanmic and more user-friendly
• Set up measurement and testing of performance of certain web pages using Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools, or similar tools from other sources, and make recommendations to improve those pages

Have other online/tech skills and think they could be a match for us?  Don't hesitate to contact us. We're very open to creative ideas for new ways to use technology to support our goals.