Summer Internship Program

Apply at this link: https://forms.gle/63CSvCW9rAqHZ45p6

SUMMARY

Internships Available: At least three full-time paid internships available (perhaps more)

Opportunities Available in the Following Departments: Communications, Organizing, Policy, Education, Development

Dates: June 2 - August 8th 2025, 10 weeks for 35 hours a week

Location: Interns must reside in DC and work at least 3 days per week (Mon, Weds, & Thurs) from our Dupont Circle offices

Compensation: $17.50/hour ($6,125 for the summer)

To Apply: Visit this link: https://forms.gle/63CSvCW9rAqHZ45p6

Who You Are:

You’re a college student who’s deeply dismayed by the state of the world right now. Trump and his Christian Nationalist cronies are dismantling our freedoms and trying to divide America, choosing who they think matters and counts and who doesn’t. You want to do more than fight back: you want to give people something to belong to, believe in, and fight for. Something that can give people a sense of belonging and meaning in a country where too many people - especially young people - feel isolated, powerless, and dispossessed.

You’re hungry for a summer job that will teach you to be a leader on the values you care about, where you’ll be put to work on substantive projects and help build a movement for people like you: driven by a deep belief in human dignity and human potential, and deeply committed to reason, science, and compassion as the guideposts for your own life and public policy.

You’re also a no-job-too-small person who wants to be put to work and learn about all the facets of running an effective nonprofit working to change the world - from the fascinating and innovative to the boring and messy.

Does that sound like you? Good. We’ve been waiting.

Who We Are:

Hi! Nice to meet you. We’re the American Humanist Association.

Humanists believe in people. We believe that people have inherent worth and dignity, without needing to be saved or redeemed. We believe that people can do anything as long as we live in a society where people are free to think freely and pursue rational truth. And we believe the highest good is to help other people live lives of freedom and flourishing.

Humanists have always moved America. Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, Kristen Bell, Gloria Steinem, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Steve Wozniak, Joyce Carol Oates, A. Philip Randolph, John Dewey, Margaret Atwood, Abraham Maszlow, Jamie Raskin - these are some of the American visionaries whose humanism led them to envision new frontiers for advancing human worth and dignity.

For over 80 years, the AHA has been the epicenter of the humanist movement. We promote humanism as a community and worldview that “nothing in particular,” “spiritual but not religious,” atheist, and agnostic folks can belong to, believe in, and fight for. We fight the radical religious right in the courts, Congress, and the streets, organizing our thousands of members and 230+ chapters nationwide to fight for the separation of church and state, make the moral case for progressive public policy, and take direct action to improve their communities. We train hundreds of secular chaplains and celebrants who perform marriages and work in hospitals, college campuses, and prisons.

And we’ve got hella work to do.

The Role:

We designed our summer internship program in partnership with the Secular Student Alliance to help college students interested in church-state separation and building positive secular communities develop their skills and leadership, explore careers in the secular space, and contribute their expertise and vision to our movement.

Interns work full-time in our office in DC for 10 weeks.

Every intern will be placed in one of our departments (Communications, Policy, Organizing, Education, or Development). You’ll have the opportunity to rank your preferences in your application. Below, please find a brief overview of each department and the tasks you might be asked to perform.

Regardless of your role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Meet with all AHA staff members to learn more about different work functions and career paths in the nonprofit world, including 1:1 mentorship sessions with our Executive Director.
• Work on small teams and collaborate directly with a senior staff employee at the AHA, receiving mentorship and feedback from a seasoned leader in the secular space.
• Attend our national conference (June 26-29) with all expenses (flight, hotel, meals, ground transportation) covered by the AHA, where you’ll be able to attend and participate in thought-provoking sessions on humanism’s biggest and newest ideas. (We might even have you give a presentation, if you like!)
• Write articles that may appear in The Humanist magazine and TheHumanist.com.
• Work on substantial projects in your department, though you should also expect significant time (up to but no more than 50%) spent on administrative work.
• You may also have the opportunity to work on cross-departmental projects and group projects with other interns, attend free events in DC as guests of the AHA, and attend the Secular Student Alliance’s annual conference - these are all TBD, but very possible.

Requirements

Non-negotiable:

• Ambitious and driven: You dream big for yourself and the places you work for, aiming high, working hard, and always asking “What can we do better?”
• Intrepid and fearless: You’re comfortable with failure, unafraid of rejection, and always up to (thoughtfully, strategically) court a little controversy.
• Creative and open: You see possibilities others don’t, aren’t afraid of divergent thinking, and are described as “bursting with ideas.”
• Responsible and action-oriented: Able to move quickly from ideas to action. You have a high output, meet deadlines, and finish what you start.
• Strong verbal and written communicator, able to articulate complex ideas clearly.
• Strong cultural competency, able to make people feel welcome and respected no matter their background or identity.

Super Helpful, A Big Plus

(The successful applicant will absolutely have some, but likely not all, of these):

• Experience in the humanist/secular movement space, or adjacent movements like Unitarian Universalism, whether as an intern, volunteer, or group member. Special consideration will be given to Secular Student Alliance chapter members and leaders (Enthusiasm and willingness to learn the culture of these spaces is an absolute must).
• Experience related to your preferred department (e.g., volunteering on a campaign for those interested in a policy internship, work as a student journalist for those interested in communications)
• A history of activism for causes you care about
• Experience as a team member and leader of student groups on campus

Compensation and Logistics:

Dates: This 10-week internship runs through June, July, and the first week of August (June 2 - August 8).

Pay: Interns will work 35 hours a week and will be paid $17.50/hour ($612.50 per week and $6,125 for the entire summer). You’ll be paid every other week.

Hours: Interns are expected to work 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, with half an hour for lunch to be taken whenever you prefer. You will also have 2.5 hours of “Flex Time” you can take off each week. You can use it for anything you like: to lengthen lunch, take off early on Friday afternoon, for appointments, etc.

Paid Time Off: We will provide paid days off on June 19th (Juneteenth), June 30th (the day after the AHA conference), and July 4th.

Work Location: Interns are expected to work in the AHA’s offices near Dupont Circle at least 3 days per week - Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. On Wednesdays and Fridays interns may choose to work from the office or remotely. The office is a short walk from the Farragut West and Dupont Circle Metro stations, and MetroBus stops right around the corner.

Hiring Process:

You can start by applying here:

https://forms.gle/rWdagmwCshVZQnnP8

We like to share our full hiring process for transparency. However, please note that all parts of this process, including timelines, may change.

Stage 1: Application + Resume (Applications open through March 23rd)

You’ll fill out an application that includes some basic personal information and several short answer questions. You’ll also provide a resume and a writing sample.

Stage 2: Interviews (Week of March 24th)

We’ll invite 6-8 applicants to a 45 minute interview, where you’ll speak with at least 2 members of our team, including someone from the department you’d be most likely to be matched with.

We will aim to make offers to applicants by April 1st so that you have adequate time to make travel arrangements to DC.

Departmental Overviews

Communications:

To fight the Christian right, we need to out-message them. To help people find a home in humanism, we need to tell better stories about it. And for the future of America, we need to build an answer to the right-wing online media machine that can give a progressive perspective on values, purpose, and empowerment. That’s what you’ll be helping with if you join the AHA’s Communications Team, and you’ll work under Director of Communications Court Beyer, who helped flip Wisconsin blue as the state Democratic Party’s comms director in 2018 and 2020, and has years of experience helping progressive causes break through in the media.

Examples of substantial projects might look like: Writing copy and designing graphics for social media and rapid response efforts, supporting the production of our upcoming podcast and short-form videos, sourcing, editing, and designing content for The Humanist magazine.

Examples of administrative work might look like: Scheduling social posts in our social media management software, maintaining an organizational content calendar, editing transcripts of speeches given at the AHA conference for publication.

Organizing:

Secular people face higher rates of social isolation. Our goal is to make sure everyone has a place they belong. If you join the AHA’s organizing team, you’ll work to build and sustain local groups that help people feel truly welcome - some for the first time in their lives - deepen their humanist identity, and take action to build a better world. And you’ll work with the AHA’s Organizing Director, Jake Via, a nationally-recognized trainer and facilitator with experience that spans from running YMCAs to making eight-figure deals in tech sales.

Examples of substantial projects might look like: Helping plan trainings for chapter leaders who want to grow their local groups, designing a strategy for youth organizing and outreach, recruiting vendors (web designers, accountants, etc) who can offer pro-bono or low-bono services to chapters

Examples of administrative work might look like: Reaching out to chapters to update information in our database, compiling and shipping AHA materials to group leaders, moderating our Discord server.

Policy:

We fight for public policy that defends humanist values - that every person deserves to live with dignity, and that we all deserve the freedom to choose our beliefs and the way we live our lives. We’re one of the most respected and effective organizations in the country advocating for church-state separation - and our movement grows every time people see us fighting for them. You’ll work closely with AHA’s Acting Director of Policy + Strategic Advocacy, Rachel Deitch, an experienced leader in moving the needle on federal and state policy issues from church-state separation to reproductive rights.

Examples of substantial projects might look like: Conduct research for fact sheets and talking points about church-state separation issues to be shared with Members of Congress, help design a training for humanists who want to run for local office, write messages encouraging our members to call and email their state legislators on priority issues.

Examples of administrative work might look like: Maintain our state legislative tracker and congressional scorecard, cold outreach to local and state elected officials to identify humanists serving in elected office, delivering messages to Congressional offices

Education:

Movements thrive when they train new leaders and pass down wisdom, traditions, and values. The AHA’s Education Center provides training both for professionals - like humanist chaplains and wedding officiants - and everyday people to communicate and live the values of humanism. You’ll work closely with the AHA’s Education Director, Kristin Wintermute, who has decades of experience as a thought leader and educator in the humanist movement, including many years as Executive Director of The Humanist Institute.

Examples of substantial projects might look like: Designing marketing strategies to inform millennial parents about our humanist parenting group, writing copy for our “Dose of Humanism” series of humanist values and philosophy via text, helping rewrite our Intro to Humanism online course for a modern audience

Examples of administrative work might look like: Updating our database of humanist clergy (chaplains and celebrants), scheduling and sending our humanist inspirational texts, helping course instructors set up their syllabi on Canvas.

Development, Operations, & Executive Support:

Strong fundraising, financial management, and strategic planning form the backbone of effective social justice organizations. If you join our DevOps team this summer, you’ll help ensure all of our departments have the resources they need to do their impactful work, and learn about the fundamentals any future nonprofit executive needs to master. You’ll work closely with the AHA’s Deputy Director, Nicole Carr, who has decades of experience as a fundraising and executive leader, including nearly a decade at the AHA.

Examples of substantial projects might look like: Drafting copy for fundraising emails that will reach tens of thousands of AHA donors, preparing research reports on high net worth individuals we are targeting for major donations, helping plan a fundraising gala for our annual conference.

Examples of administrative work might look like: Helping manage the Executive Director’s travel arrangements for an upcoming fundraising trip, entering donor info into our databases, processing donations received by mail.

FAQs:

Can I take on other work outside of this internship?

As long as it doesn’t interfere with your work at the AHA, you should feel free to do whatever you like outside of work hours, including taking on additional part-time work.

Will the AHA help me find housing?

We are happy to share tips on how to find housing, but we can’t secure housing for you. However, there are lots of programs that provide affordable housing for summer interns in DC.

What if I have planned travel (family vacation, conference, etc) and can’t make the exact dates specified in the application?

We are open to flexible arrangements, including having you work slightly different dates or work slightly less than ten weeks and prorating your pay. Please apply and share your situation.

Can I work remotely?

We require interns to be in Washington, DC for the duration of the program. All interns must work on-site at the AHA’s headquarters near Dupont Circle at least three days a week - Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Wednesday and Fridays you can choose to work remotely or come into the office.

Do I need to provide my own laptop?

You are welcome to use your own laptop, or we can set you up with a desktop computer at the AHA offices.

What are the dress code expectations?

AHA’s office is casual. You can wear anything that would not get you thrown out of Applebee’s. Please bring 1-2 business outfits for special events (lobbying Congress, awards banquet at our conference, etc).

Will I receive formal feedback?

Your supervisor will offer a formal midpoint review in early July, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement. You’ll receive plenty of feedback along the way!

Is the AHA’s office accessible?

Unfortunately, there is no way to access the AHA’s offices without stairs. We will make an exception to the remote work policy for applicants who are not able to use stairs.

• Meet with all AHA staff members to learn more about different work functions and career paths in the nonprofit world, including 1:1 mentorship sessions with our Executive Director.
• Work on small teams and collaborate directly with a senior staff employee at the AHA, receiving mentorship and feedback from a seasoned leader in the secular space.
• Attend our national conference (June 26-29) with all expenses (flight, hotel, meals, ground transportation) covered by the AHA, where you’ll be able to attend and participate in thought-provoking sessions on humanism’s biggest and newest ideas. (We might even have you give a presentation, if you like!)
• Write articles that may appear in The Humanist magazine and TheHumanist.com.
• Work on substantial projects in your department, though you should also expect significant time (up to but no more than 50%) spent on administrative work.
• You may also have the opportunity to work on cross-departmental projects and group projects with other interns, attend free events in DC as guests of the AHA, and attend the Secular Student Alliance’s annual conference - these are all TBD, but very possible.

paid days off on June 19th (Juneteenth), June 30th (the day after the AHA conference), and July 4th