Meet Clinton Jackson! Clinton is a senior at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, and completes his semester as an intern with Kennari in December 2023.
During my time as an intern at Kennari Consulting, I was a part of a variety of different team projects, personal projects, and experiences. I learned how to implement different research strategies, use data analytics to predict future outcomes, and interact with different clients. Kennari Consulting gave me new insights into how the nonprofit world works, while also teaching me valuable skills to bring to my future career. As I further progress in the professional world, I will build upon the lessons and skills that I have learned from projects, meetings, and evaluations and continue to learn.
One notable thing that I had the opportunity to do during my internship was spend one day a week at the Community Food Club (CFC)! Under the supervision of the Community Food Club’s development director Jon Roberts, I helped with their marketing, donor database, and community outreach. The marketing-focused work included thinking of ways to grow CFC’s social media audience, while maximizing their current-dominant demographic. Another project included learning the ins and outs of Little Green Light (a nonprofit donor database), from which I was able to input and interact with over 100+ constituents. With the help of Little Green Light, at the end of my time with the Club, I curated and presented my findings on donor trends. Although these projects were great and essential to my time with CFC, my favorite aspect was interacting with their members, team, and volunteers. Through these interactions, I gained connections and bonds that I am grateful for!
Beyond the Community Food Club projects, creating and updating tools and templates for use with clients, database entry, and utilizing an industry report for client work are some of the many things that I had the pleasure of working on throughout my internship. One special highlight was being able to be part of a team preparing for a 500+ person gala in November! It was a memorable experience to sit in on the brainstorming for the event, while assisting with other crucial event tasks such as organizing name tags and updating the presentation.
Overall, I will be forever thankful for my time and experiences at Kennari Consulting. A huge thank you to Kimberly Kvorka, Becca Waite, Laura Kruisenga, and the entire team for taking a chance on me. My advice to future Kennari interns would be to connect with this wonderful team, learn as much as you can, be a team player, ask a lot of questions, and, most importantly, work hard!