Salutations to my fellow COM/DMA/JRN/IMC Interns, both current and former!

My name is Michael Berg and I am a senior at Canisius. I study Communication and English in addition to minoring in Entrepreneurship and Women & Gender Studies, and I am interning at Family Promise of Western New York for the Spring 2021 semester. This is my first internship experience and I am enjoying every minute of it so far! My supervisor is a truly inspirational woman and I am getting along well with the rest of the staff members and interns from other colleges in the Buffalo area. The best part is that all the nervousness and apprehension I had leading up to my first day at the internship washed away the moment I stepped into the building!

What sets my internship experience apart from the other interns at Family Promise is that my main responsibilities and goals emphasize the donor relations aspect of Family Promise. Because the organization is a non-profit, it relies heavily on sponsorships and donations in order for it to carry out its mission and day-to-day functions. That’s where I come in! As an intern, I am expected to come up with creative ways to promote Family Promise and what they do, engage current donors and convince new ones to contribute to their cause. I’m currently working on a project with my supervisor as well as some other board members to put together a booklet chronicling the history of Family Promise as an organization, whose about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its founding later this year. I also get to improve my Canva skills and make fun posters for fundraising events taking place in the months ahead (like the one shown below)

I’m now into my third week of the internship and I feel as though I’m well-adjusted to Family Promise’s company culture. As a matter of fact, we’re ordering takeout every other Thursday so we can all get to sit back and enjoy each other’s company and I can feel myself growing as a communications professional and as a person every day. I’m looking forward to seeing what the internship brings in the upcoming semester, and I promise that no matter what happens, I will do my very best!