Social Impact Internship Program (SIIP)

Your support allows us to provide $1,500 – $2,000 stipends for students of high financial need pursuing unpaid internships during the academic year.

About

Many internships don’t pay or don’t pay enough to cover the cost of living in a city such as Washington, D.C. These costs can be prohibitive for a student without the financial resources to pay their own way. At Cawley, we don’t think a student’s internship options should be limited by their financial need. 

By providing $1500 stipends to Georgetown upperclassmen, SIIP allows students with high financial need to pursue unpaid internships and explore careers in fields that often don’t pay interns — fields such as government, nonprofit, education, and other social impact careers.

Your support will help provide Georgetown students equitable access to unpaid internships. Since the program’s inception in 2018, we’ve supported over 60 students, representing approximately one-third of the qualifying applicants, who have found opportunities at organizations such as the United Nations, the Library of Congress, United We Dream, The Phillips Collection, and the U.S. Senate.

Student Testimonials

Reducing the Financial Burden

“Without the aid of the stipend, my enlightening and highly valuable time performing a government internship would have been a huge financial burden. Stipends allow lower-income Georgetown students the ability to pursue aspirations of public service.”

SIIP participant

“Having a stipend helped me more easily balance the daily cost of living in D.C. with my academics and internship – in the fall, I was working ~60 hours a week combining unpaid interning, a job on campus, and classes, which was mentally and physically exhausting. The stipend allowed me to cut down on my hours and feel more financially secure as graduation approaches.”

SIIP participant

Accessing Essential Career Preparation Opportunities

“By interning for a full semester with Senator Blumenthal, I can work on longer-term projects that are important to me like helping draft meaningful social justice legislation… Working on the Hill is great hands-on experience with public policy that will be influential in my future academic studies, which will likely be a JD or a masters in public policy.”

SIIP participant

Commitments to Advocacy & Social Justice

“Interning for the Latin American Working Group (LAWG) will give me the opportunity to strengthen my researching and communication skills and become a competitive candidate in my professional career as an advocate for social justice… I will be able to strengthen my knowledge and become versatile in foreign affairs in Latin America.”

SIIP participant

“I wish to pursue a career in law which protects human rights and provides transitional justice for victims of genocide and international crimes… Being a research intern will prepare me for a career in the international field which few have the opportunity to do as an undergraduate.”

SIIP participant

Past Employers

Below is a list of organizations that SIIP recipients were able to work with:

• American Enterprise Institute
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Children’s National Hospital
• Library of Congress
• Senate Foreign Relations
• State Department
• The Phillips Collection
• United Nations
• U.S. Congress
• U.S. House of Representatives
• Washington Performing Arts
• … and 16 more.

Your support allows us to provide $1,500 – $2,000 stipends for students of high financial need pursuing unpaid internships during the academic year.