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Jennah Baksh wasn’t thinking about nonprofit work as a career after graduation. But a Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) program that connects student interns with area nonprofits might change her mind.

Baksh, 22, of Snellville is a GGC senior management information systems major, minoring in information technology (IT) is set to graduate later this year. When she was a junior, she participated in the college’s Nonprofit Internship Program, a collaboration between the Georgia Gwinnett College Foundation, and multiple donors, including the Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia (CFNEG), which offers juniors and seniors semester-long paid internship opportunities in Gwinnett County and the greater Atlanta area. Students who meet program qualifications work up to 25 hours a week and are paid up to $17 an hour. The program, which pays the student stipends through corporate donations, is designed to spur interest in nonprofit careers, provide invaluable experiences and contribute to students’ financial stability as they attend school.

Baksh was paired with Rainbow Village, Inc., a nonprofit located in Duluth, that supports homelessness. As a research and data analytics intern, she performed research, summarized data and prepared reports, which she presented to leadership. To gain further insight into the nonprofit, Baksh was exposed to multiple areas of the organization. She worked with the community outreach team, shadowed the chief financial officer and spent time with the nonprofit’s CEO.

“Working at a nonprofit gave me a different perspective in comparison to a corporate role,” Baksh said at a recent luncheon where officials reported to participants about the program’s progress. “I learned how IT impacts the nonprofit sector and how tools that are also used in the corporate field are used to provide impact toward a nonprofit’s mission.”

GGC’s associate director of Career Services, Sherrie Goodman, said the college’s Nonprofit Internship Program has grown quickly since its inception.

“We launched in spring 2023 with four employers and four students,” Goodman explained. “In fall 2023, we more than doubled the program to 10 employers and 11 students. This semester, we have 15 student participants with nine organizations with a cumulative program total of 33 students working across 22 unique organizations.”

Britt Ramroop, CFNEG’s director of fundholder experience, said students are typically unaware of nonprofit sector organizations unless they themselves have used a nonprofit's resources. She said it’s essential to build a pipeline of passionate students who want to use the skills they learned in the classroom to serve their communities.

“The nonprofit sector is the third largest employer sector in the United States,” she said. “Coming out of COVID, nonprofits need help more than ever because the need of the communities is bigger than it ever has been. Being able to show these students the things they are passionate about can also be a way to serve others, give back and truly make an impact doing what they love.”

Future goals

Jennifer Hendrickson, GGC’s associate vice president of Advancement and president of the GGC Foundation, said the program has much potential to grow. She said the GGC Foundation is still seeking corporate funding to expand the program in both Gwinnett County and across the Atlanta region.

“We want to build the talent pipeline from a regional perspective,” she said. “The stipends given to student interns are not just stipends, they’re really scholarships for the ‘School of Life.’”

After Baksh graduates from GGC, she plans to pursue an MBA with a concentration in business analytics. And after that, her career path may lead to the nonprofit sector.

“Without this internship, I don’t think I would have considered nonprofit work,” she said. “Working in the nonprofit sector is different from corporate work in that your work is directly impacting the community that you are serving.”

Download nonprofit luncheon gallery photos.