Calling All Nonprofits! Spring 2027 Intern Foundry to Open July 1st

Intern Foundry (IF) is not simply an internship; it is a community built on critical capacity and an experience created to foster a pipeline of Nebraska’s future talent. The IF Program is an intentionally designed partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Honors Program that pairs high-achieving students with purpose-driven organizations. With each internship, students will complete meaningful work addressing critical areas of community need, structured as a project during the Spring semester. As a participating nonprofit, you will feel the support of our program infrastructure for every step of the way, pre-internship training for interns to be ready on Day One, and professional development for students throughout the semester.

The How: We offer an 80% discounted rate for participating nonprofits. Interns will work approximately 8 hours per week for 15 weeks from mid-January to early-May, for a total of 120 project hours. The IF fee includes: intern recruitment, selection, matching, pre-internship training, professional development, and payroll. Nonprofit spots open July 1st via email. Limited spots are available on a first come, first served basis!

For participating nonprofits, our team will work with you to develop a purpose-driven project description before our student recruitment begins in September. Once intern matches are made, we ask that there is one main point of contact for the intern’s supervisor, who will regularly meet with the intern for check-ins and attend a few select IF events. Our IF team will provide measures of support not only to students, but also to supervisors, ensuring the process is straightforward and manageable.

The Why: Spring 2027 will mark the sixth year of Intern Foundry! Over these six years, we have tested and perfected our formula for capacity and purpose. At the heart of our program is the connections made between high-achieving students, impactful community leaders, and populations served by IF projects. In 2025, 94.1% of participating nonprofits reported that the IF program support and system were critical to the organization having a successful internship experience:

“Finding, vetting, selecting, and directing interns is a drain on our already scarce resources. The Foundry IF program alleviates that burden by training and matching interns to nonprofits while also offering ongoing support to everyone throughout the process. Without IF, we wouldn’t have bothered with finding an intern and would have missed out on the opportunities that their work has provided.” - Participating Nonprofit Executive Director

Interested in learning more and getting on the July 1st notification email? Email peyton@thefoundry.co to be added to the July 1st email list or contact the Foundry at hello@thefoundry.co on July 1st to sign up.