Date on Senior Honors Thesis

5-2021

Document Type

Senior Honors Thesis

Degree Name

B.A.

Department

English

Degree Program

College of Arts and Sciences

Author's Keywords

nonprofit; social media; internship; intern; supervisor; handbook

Abstract

This thesis examines how nonprofits can best prepare their interns and how interns can best prepare themselves for a role in engaging audiences through social media. Through a literature review on nonprofit social media and internships, a series of qualitative interviews with interns and supervisors, and my own lived experiences as a social media intern, I develop a handbook for nonprofit social media internships. This guide is relevant to the specific experiences of nonprofit social media internships, includes advice on training, mentorship, and best practices, and finally, it incorporates further resources on nonprofit social media that interns and supervisors can access. This thesis aims to fill a gap in the literature and work to manage expectations between interns and supervisors before, during, and after their internship.

Lay Summary

This thesis explores the question of how to improve the experience of a nonprofit social media internship both for the intern and for their supervisor. I conducted research through interviews with several interns and supervisors to discover their lived experiences, and I combine this data with my insight as a former intern and other scholarship on the subject. This research allows me to analyze the major problems that happen before, during, and after nonprofit social media internships as well as potential solutions to these problems. Then, I distill these findings into a brief and visual handbook for interns and supervisors to provide them with best practices and advice for nonprofit social media internships.

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