Intern, Philanthropy

Job Description

About Communities Foundation of Texas  

The mission of Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) is to improve the lives of all people in our community by investing in their health, wealth, living, and learning. CFT works to accomplish this by growing community giving, expanding community impact, and advancing community equity. With a vision of building thriving communities for all, CFT works locally and across the state with many individuals, families, companies, foundations, and nonprofits through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking initiatives. CFT professionally manages more than 1,400 charitable funds and has awarded more than $3 billion in grants since its founding in 1953.   

CFT is committed to serving and understanding donor needs, expertly handling complex gifts, wisely managing charitable funds, and leveraging its community knowledge to increase charitable impact, in addition to powering several initiatives including the W. W. Caruth, Jr. Fund at CFT, the Center for Business Impact, Educate Texas at CFT, Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy at CFT, GiveWisely, and CFT’s North Texas Giving Day. CFT’s North Texas Giving Day raised more than $78 million in 2025 to help over 3,500 North Texas nonprofits, and has raised more than $712 million since its inception in 2009. Learn more at CFTexas.org.   

Intern Program Overview

This program is designed to foster a mutually beneficial relationship that promotes growth and development for Communities Foundation of Texas, our employees, and college students. This full-time, paid internship program provides a unique opportunity to enhance academic learning, apply classroom knowledge in real-world scenarios, and gain exposure to a professional work environment. Each intern is paired with a dedicated supervisor who mentors them, helps develop business skills, and oversees their work experience. Interns actively contribute as team members by setting goals, meeting deadlines, and engaging in meaningful work that helps our community thrive.

The program requires an 8 week commitment, during which interns participate in formal training, mentoring, hands-on learning, and networking opportunities with senior leaders.

• Program starts June 1, 2026, and ends July 24, 2026.
• 37.5 hours per week with a pay rate of $20 per hour.

Participation in the internship requires that you legally reside in Texas with in-person attendance at Dallas office, in accordance with CFT’s hybrid working model, for the duration of the program.

What we offer:

Essential tools and training for success, along with purposeful development opportunities, including:

• Networking with cross-functional teams to gain insights into different areas of the organization.
• Opportunities to engage with senior leadership to discuss project goals, strategies, and key milestones.
• Involvement in company meetings, community events, and volunteer activities

Intern, Philanthropy
The Intern, Philanthropy will support the creation of a comprehensive repository of CFT’s discretionary grantmaking history. This foundational work will be used to build a digital history function on CFT’s website and prepare high-quality data for future internal AI projects and search capabilities.

Data Auditing

•  Research and compile a master repository of discretionary grantmaking history from existing spreadsheets and directories.

Taxonomy Coding

• Apply and code grant data using new cause area taxonomy standards currently being developed.

Salesforce Enhancement

• Clean and prepare historical data for migration or enhancement within the Salesforce environment.

AI Readiness

• Structure the data for use in a closed AI environment to enable future natural-language search functions for internal CFT staff.

What you’ll need

• Enrolled in a four-year accredited college, university, or graduate program with good academic standing.
• Basic understanding of working in a hybrid environment, workplace ethics, and effective communication.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.
• Demonstrated strong organizational and planning abilities, with a track record of effectively coordinating, facilitating, and implementing projects in previous work or academic settings.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, along with the ability to analyze and synthesize information for effective problem-solving, are highly valued.
• A passion for nonprofit partnership in the community.
• Effectively model and demonstrate CFT’s core competencies, which include Collaboration, Impact and Problem Solving, Integrity and Accountability, Learning, and Internal and External Service. 
• Must be authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship

Disclaimer: The above sections contain representative examples of job duties that might be performed by employees assigned to this classification. CFT is a dynamic organization, and the environment can be fluid. Roles and responsibilities may be altered to accommodate changing conditions and objectives as well as to tap into the skills and experience of its employees. Accordingly, employees may be asked to perform duties that are outside the specific work that is listed. This is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and/or skills required of all employees within this class.

Accommodations: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position