Internship
Grants
Max Bell Foundation's internship grants are made to Canadian
registered charities who in turn hire interns for short term
contracts. Please note that we do not make grants to individuals,
nor do we participate in screening candidates for internship
positions supported by this program.
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Max Bell Foundation's strategic priority is to help registered
charities to identify and communicate to Canadians public
policy alternatives in health & wellness, education, and
environment.
We recognize that each of these policy areas is complex,
and that doing impactful public policy work within them can
require extensive data gathering, environmental scanning,
in-depth literature reviews, preliminary analyses, detailed
planning, etc. Many organizations lack the financial and human
resources required to undertake these activities, which are
necessary for program planning and for developing high quality
project plans.
We also recognize that Canada's brightest young researchers
who are interested in public policy issues are faced with
a discouraging lack of opportunities to develop their skills
under the tutelage of experienced mentors.
Objectives
With these needs in mind, Max Bell Foundation has initiated
an internship program with the following objectives:
1) To provide selected organizations with the resources required
to do "background" or "foundational" work
on key public policy issues in health & wellness, education,
and environment. Doing such work should help these organizations
with their core activities, such as:
-
understanding
public policy issues in their full complexity
-
developing high quality proposals for potential
funders
-
informing
debate over key public policy issues
2)
To provide excellent educational and mentorship experiences
for some of Canada's best and brightest young researchers,
and focus their attention upon key public policy issues related
to health & wellness, education and environment. The best
young researchers in Canada should be exposed to some of the
leading thinking on public policy issues inside of some of
Canada's best public policy research institutes.
Support
The support for an intern is to cover both a stipend for her/him
and the overhead costs of mentoring and administration.
Stipend. The stipend for holders of bachelors degrees
(or equivalent) is $2,400 per month for four to eight months.
The stipend for holders of masters degrees (or equivalent)
is $2,880 per month. The stipend for holders of doctoral
degrees (or equivalent) is $3,200 per month. These amounts
are competitive on a national scale, and are intended to
draw the best possible candidates.
Mentoring and Administration. It is expected that
the recipient organization, in agreeing to accept this support,
will also commit to having senior staff both supervise and
mentor the intern. We anticipate this to require approximately
three to six hours per week. Administrative costs will include
the search and hiring process, and a portion of overhead
expenses such as computer, networking, telephone, etc. The
mentorship and administrative costs will be negotiated between
the recipient organization and Max Bell Foundation.
Term
It is expected that the intern will work for the recipient
organization on a full time basis (i.e., 160 hours
per month).
Eligibility
The internships and fellowships are to be awarded through
a competitive search open to all qualified applicants who
are Canadian citizens. The intern may be seeking temporary
employment, completing a work term in a co-operative education
program, or between semesters of a course of study.
Project
Topic and Scope
Interns and fellows are assigned a task - typically a "mini-project"
- that will augment the recipient organization's ability to
undertake more extensive work in an area of public policy
that pertains to health and/or education and/or environment.
The specific topic, scope, and methods of the project are
agreed upon by the recipient organization and Max Bell Foundation
staff. It is expected that internship work plans will be developed
with several factors in mind:
-
the
time available;
-
the experience and abilities of the intern;
-
the availability of a senior member of the
recipient organization's staff to mentor the intern;
-
the
relevance of the proposed work to both the recipient organization
and Max Bell Foundation;
-
the
potential availability of necessary library materials, data,
or other resources.
Administration
The recipient organization is responsible for the following:
1) searching for and selecting an intern through an open, competitive
process;
2) development of a practical work plan that meets both the
recipient organization's and Max Bell Foundation's approval;
3) providing the necessary infrastructure (e.g., office space,
computer, internet connectivity, telephone, fax, etc.);
4) mentoring;
5) assuring that the intern completes their work within the
specified time frame.
It is expected that the intern will provide regular reports
on her/his progress to both the recipient organization and Max
Bell Foundation.
Deliverables
In addition to the regular reports from the intern, senior staff
of the recipient organization will prepare a final evaluative
report on the internship or fellowship. It is expected that
the research project undertaken will yield formal written output(s)
that could include, for example, one or more of:
- a
literature review;
- a
research brief;
- policy
recommendations;
- a
complete proposal to potential funders, including Max Bell
Foundation, for a more comprehensive research initiative.
Where
quality warrants, the Foundation may assist participating organizations
with the publication of outputs electronically and/or in hard
copy versions.
How
to Apply
This is a flexible program that permits Max Bell Foundation
staff and potential recipient organizations to work collaboratively
to identify initiatives of interest to both. If you are interested
in participating, we ask that you initiate the process by outlining:
- the tentative details of an internship, including the objectives,
the intended outputs/deliverables, and a summary work plan
showing activities and outputs by month;
- the process by which you would search for and hire an intern;
- a
budget with line items for intern stipend, administration/overhead,
and mentoring/supervision.
Please forward the above information by post or fax to:
Allan Northcott, Senior Program Officer
Max Bell Foundation
Suite 1230, 639 - 5th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2P 0M9
Phone: (403) 215-7310
Fax: (403) 215-731
