Read about the latest E-Board summer internship of Menalie, our Director of Promotions, and her experiences with a nonprofit organization called Essex Community Fund!

By Menalie Hyde

This summer I worked with a local nonprofit in my town, Essex Community Fund, as a Web Design and Multimedia intern. I worked on two main projects: redoing their website and managing a large-scale fundraiser where I completed a variety of tasks such as holding and planning meetings, writing copy, and working on graphic design, web development, and photography.

The first project I tackled was redesigning and building their new website. ECF had a website already, but it didn’t have the functionality and usability that they wanted.  They were frustrated that the design was one page, the links didn’t always redirect to the right place, and mainly that they couldn’t edit it because it was written in raw HTML. After many consultations and drafts, I finally set up their new website using WordPress. This made it easier for designing, but more importantly much easier for them to edit after I left. I created a manual for them on how to edit their new site, and because WordPress is very user-friendly to those who don’t necessarily know a lot about web languages, it is much easier for them to do that. Their website is found at www.essexcommunityfund.org.

The second major project I worked on with this nonprofit was managing their largest-scale fundraiser to date. The town of Essex, CT had changed all of their street signs, and the decommissioned ones were given to ECF to be used for a fundraiser. One of ECF’s biggest events is the Day of Giving during the holiday season, and the majority of the proceeds raised through this fundraiser go towards that event. For this fundraiser, I consulted with them on the platform that I thought would be most effective (it was to be all online) and when to have the fundraiser, staged and photographed 215 street signs, created promotional materials, and launched their listings. The auction page is found at www.essexcommunityfund.org/auction/ and the eBay page with all the live listings can be found here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/essexcommunityfund.

In conclusion, I was able to practice a variety of skills throughout my time working at my internship with Essex Community Fund. I am very grateful I had the privilege this summer to work with a nonprofit and become involved with such a prominent organization in my local community.