Non-Profit & Association Partnerships

How it works

We work as a strategic partner to help you facilitate connections between students and organizations.

You introduce Micro-Internships to your stakeholders: students, alumni, member organizations, corporate sponsors, and more.

We help organizations define relevant Micro-Internships and connect them with students they are looking for.

We manage the contract engagement so organizations are free from W2s, 1099s, payroll, or other burdens, and students are paid for their work.

We support next steps—as a mission-driven organization there are no fees when a company wants to extend a full-time or longer-term opportunity.

Engage students from all backgrounds

While many envision college students as 18- to 21-year-olds the majority are older and juggling many priorities. Students and recent graduates need alternatives, more accessible options to help them become career-ready and not be overlooked due to school, major, or GPA—factors that are poor predictors of success in the workplace

Promote early career development

Micro-Internships create opportunities for organizations to “test-drive” candidates early in their academic journey. This allows students to try on roles to see if a project fits their interests and skills, while building relationships with companies across the country.

Support local community

Micro-Internships turn the gig economy into a pathway, not a destination. By expanding access to professional opportunities for candidates that otherwise may be filtered out through traditional processes, your organization can provide equitable access to all types of college students and recent graduates. Micro-Internships enable organizations to start building authentic, supportive relationships with candidates in your community that are underrepresented in your workforce.

Build authentic relationships

Micro-Internships provide an innovative way to build ongoing relationships between college students/recent graduates and professionals in need of short-term project support. Since most Micro-Internships are completed remotely, students learn about opportunities, careers, and industries nationwide.

This idea that we have jobs and these students need to conform to our way of doing things is a fine strategy if you don’t want to hire diverse students. It’s not a good strategy if you do. The old models do not work for the majority of today’s college students. There is an effort that has to be made by employers if they really truly want these students, they’ve got to try to meet these students where they are.

Todd Penner,

Portfolio Director, College Success,

Michael and Susan Dell Foundation

For the student-athlete, their resume is not going to be glowing and filled with experience but that doesn’t speak to their talent, so employers should think about how are you making it accessible for them to show you their skills? Short-term projects give hiring managers a chance to assess the talent in a space that’s low risk for the student.

Corinne Milien,

Executive Director and Co-Founder,

The Winning Edge Leadership Academy

Frequently asked questions

Q. What are the benefits of partnering with Parker Dewey?

As a non-profit/association partner, we are happy to support your Micro-Internship program in any way that we can. This includes providing a custom portal for your students, alumni, and member organizations to sign up for the platform; marketing materials to help you launch your program; newsletter, webinar, and other outreach to share best practices; and data to help you measure the engagement of your stakeholders with these opportunities.

Q. What types of institutions does Parker Dewey partner with?

Parker Dewey has no-cost partnerships available to all higher education institutions, including universities, colleges, and community colleges. Parker Dewey partnership is also available to nonprofits, workforce development organizations, boot camps, and training programs.

Q. What’s the cost to become a Parker Dewey partner?

The benefits mentioned above are all available at no cost!

Q. What are some examples of Micro-Internship projects?

You can see examples of projects in our project library. Each of these can be refined to your specifications and posted within a handful of clicks. You can also customize your own project.

Q. How does this work for companies?

Companies retain Parker Dewey to provide services across a variety of departments, industries, and organization sizes. The assignments are comparable to those typically given to skilled new hires such as conducting market research, performing financial analyses, assisting in lead generation, and crafting internal and external communication materials.

Q. What are the legal/administrative implications of Micro-Internships?

In short, it’s easy as Parker Dewey handles it all. No HR burdens. No conversion fees. No questions about ownership or worries about confidentiality.

Employment: Micro-Interns are not your employees, contractors, interns, temps, or freelancers. Similar to working with a consulting firm or any other service provider, you are engaging Parker Dewey LLC to complete the assignment, and each individual you select is a contractor or employee of Parker Dewey. You can still directly interact with them as much or little as you would like, and always have the opportunity to hire them directly without any costs or fees.

Liability: We’re mission-driven and believe in the power of creating opportunities. That said, we take on all the liability. Not happy with the work product? We’ll give you a full refund or find an alternate Career Launcher.

Work Product: All work product is owned by you.

Confidentiality: While most projects involve public-facing information of a non-sensitive nature, both Parker Dewey and all Career Launchers sign strict NDAs to protect your information. In addition to the standard provisions, the students understand that they are risking their academic transcript or expulsion for any violation of confidentiality.

Background Checks: Given the short-term nature and structure of these assignments, we do not conduct background checks. While companies are always welcome to conduct a background check directly, the nature of the specific assignments and lack of a direct relationship with the individual who is selected has caused most organizations to defer the background check until after a Micro-Internship is completed and a student is offered a traditional internship or full-time role.

Small experience. Big impact.

From creating access to opportunities nationwide to attract and retain talent in geographical areas suffering from “brain drain,” to running innovative initiatives for non-profits serving diverse communities, Parker Dewey is here to help.

How it works

Our impact goes beyond creating pathways for college students and recent graduates to careers. Through short-term, paid, real-work experiences, organizations identify and attract candidates from all backgrounds who have grit, determination, and the skills to thrive.

How Micro-Internships can support your stakeholders

Engage students from all backgrounds

Promote early career development

Support local community

Build authentic relationships

Launch a partner program

Frequently asked questions

Learn more about partnership opportunities.