Example social post I created promoting an upcoming event

My name is Sami Rubnitz, and I am a senior communication studies and sociology double major.  This summer, I had the opportunity to intern for STRUT CARES and Sonance Foundation, which are sister nonprofit organizations in San Clemente, California. STRUT CARES was created just last year and is dedicated to building better futures globally for people, animals, and the planet by developing and supporting initiatives devoted to various important causes. Sonance Foundation was founded in 2018 as a philanthropy stemming from the for-profit speaker company Sonance and strives to support the local San Clemente community with a focus on three key pillars: education, the environment, and assisting those in need. 

I was hired as a communications intern, and the position gave me the opportunity to improve my branding, social media marketing, and content creation skills.  My time at the internship primarily focused on building content calendars for both organizations’ social media profiles to ensure they had scheduled content ready for the next few months.  Developing these calendars allowed me to be creative in making posts and graphics, as well as required me to research the organizations’ campaigns, partnerships, and past work to create informed content for their audience. This task also taught me a lot about the use of social media in the nonprofit space and how content can be a storytelling tool for highlighting important causes and the efforts to support them. Because STRUT CARES is a relatively new organization, I was also tasked with developing a branding strategy packet for the nonprofit. This included building visual brand guidelines for logo and font usage, brand voice and tone guidelines, specifications for posting content on varying platforms, and recommendations for managing engagement with audiences on social media.  It was an exciting experience to work with a young brand and get to be part of creating the foundations of the organization’s branding going forward. I also gained a deeper understanding of the elements of branding strategy and how branding applies in the nonprofit field. 

Ultimately, I really enjoyed getting to experience the communications field in the nonprofit world. While I’ve worked with many nonprofit organizations in the past, whether through volunteer opportunities, fundraising, etc., this was my first experience on the other side.  It was interesting to get a more “behind the scenes” look at how nonprofits run and everything that goes into running campaigns and initiatives smoothly and successfully.  Additionally,  I am grateful to have learned more about the role communications plays at a nonprofit and how the growth of social media has also expanded that area. Storytelling is a crucial aspect of content creation for philanthropic organizations and plays a vital part in engaging an audience and getting them on board with your cause.  Nonprofit organizations need people’s support, so effectively communicating the importance of their cause and the impact of their work is essential to their success. 

I feel that my education in the School of Communication definitely helped me prepare for this internship, and the internship experience furthered my understanding of communication as well. Various courses I’ve taken have taught me about the importance of understanding your audience and creating strategies that effectively reach your target audience. These lessons were in the back of my mind as I created branding guidelines and developed content. I needed to ensure I always had the organization’s target audience in mind and that I understood who I was trying to reach.  I am glad I had the opportunity to apply this and other lessons from my communication courses to my internship and better understand what a role in communications can look like professionally!