Reply To: Donating advertising space on MillionDollarWebTV.com; Fundraising through MillionDollarWebTV.com

[Rezwan]

We’re always looking for volunteers, and would love it if people wanted to come down here and do stuff. This would be most effective if people could come here in person. Unfortunately so far, people who want to help out are not in this area. Those who can help online have done so. What’s required is physical presence and commitment.

I had contacted Rutgers a while ago about interns and got the following answers to some questions:

What is a respectable wage to give the student? $10-25.00 per hour depending on the major.
How is this handled in taxes? You will have to check with your accountant
Would we have to deduct taxes from their wages, have them fill out a W-4 and so forth? You will have to check with your accountant

I also got a few questions from them, such as, where will the intern work, (a dedicated office space?) and what about transport issues, and how does this work with their needs. Here they helpfully attached the “Starting an Internship Program” guide I’ve attached. A quote from it:

An internship is any carefully monitored work or service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what she or he is learning throughout the experience.

“Carefully monitored” was the red flag for me. Legal forms (“hold harmless” agreements) another red flag. Which underscores the idea that volunteers and interns require administration, coordination, supervision and you need to be pretty organized to be able to start using them. There’s a tipping point, I think, after which volunteers and interns are easy to incorporate into the endeavor.

“Get interns” has been on my to do list for some time, but it requires a bit more thoughtful consideration and setup and thus keeps slipping down behind other things. I should just post something simple, offering no compensation, and see if I get any nibbles and then take it from there.

I did have a CUNY professor express interest in internships – of course those students would have quite a commute.

So, wishlist: More resources to enable interns and volunteers; the development of a cool, memorable, effective, fun, worthwhile, mutually beneficial volunteer and internship program, and some fabulous people signing up! And more appreciation that this isn’t “free”.

Attached files

Starting An Internship Program – 5th Edition.pdf (156 B)