On Interning at Island Press: Looking Forward to the Annual Report

In this installment, Development Intern Grace Nelson shares how her favorite task lead to some exciting news that shows interns can have a big impact. Every day starts the same: walk in, make a bowl of my Trader Joe’s instant oatmeal, turn on my computer, and open my email. That’s where the monotony of my day usually ends--when I actually began to do my work. When I started at Island Press as the Development Intern, I never expected the diversity of projects that I would work on. Having had two previous internships, I assumed that working at IP would be much of the same: the bottom of the barrel chores that needed little abilities or intellect beyond knowing how to alphabetize files or address an envelope; however, this presumption was very off. During my time at Island Press, I was given a wide array of projects, ranging from updating our donor database to creating an info-graphic about the life of an IP book. At Island Press I learned much about relationship that should be fostered between a nonprofit and its donors. I assisted in creating updates for foundations, letting them know how Island Press was utilizing their funds, and writing correspondence with individual donors. These projects included helping with the update letter for our Spring 2013 appeal and tracking received donations. My favorite task during my tenure working with the IP Development Team was copy-editing and finding photos for the 2012 Annual Report. The first draft I saw of the annual report was a very barren Microsoft Word Document, which I was instructed to read over, edit and find photos to be incorporated into the text. After spending a few days scouring for both esthetically-pleasing and relevant photos, I sent my finds to the rest of the team, thinking that these photos would likely never be seen again. To my surprise, a few weeks later, when I saw the new draft, which had been created by the designer, many of my photos graced the pages of this drastically more complete annual report, including the front cover. After much tweaking and trips back and forth to the designer, the annual report is now about to hit the presses and be delivered to donors and authors alike: so look out for the 2012 IP Annual Report coming to a mailbox near you!