Help SPIF up Wharton's summer
Heather Asparas, WG'08
Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: Insider
The Summer Public Interest Fund (SPIF) was founded at Wharton nine years ago. The primary purpose of the program is to encourage Wharton students to pursue summer internships in the public interest sector by supplementing the income they receive from their employers with a stipend. Though most SPIF fellows take internships at non-profits, some also pursue other fields, such as government, international development, environmental protection, and urban public education.
One of the reasons SPIF is so critical is that it allows students to pursue worthwhile internships that they would not be able to pursue otherwise, because most public interest organizations cannot afford to compensate interns at the MBA salary level. SPIF is made possible by the contributions of other Wharton MBA students who are pursuing internships in more traditional fields, such as investment banking or consulting. The suggested donation is 1-2% of the student's summer salary.
It would be easy to remember how much debt you have right now and decide not to pledge. However, one powerful fact to reflect upon is that the typical MBA intern will earn 1% of his or her salary in only four hours out of an entire 10-week internship. Four hours of your time, or about five minutes per day, could help some of your classmates pursue internships in fields that they are passionate about and that help our communities.
In addition to the immediate benefit these donations provide to classmates, the success of SPIF helps promote the Wharton brand among potential applicants and among our peer institutions.
Even though the benefit of SPIF is clear, funding for SPIF at Wharton has fallen consistently below that for similar organizations at other schools, such as Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. One reason for this is that these programs have a longer history and thus have been able to gain formal school acceptance and sometimes even sponsorship.
At all three schools, the program is either fully funded by the school, or student body participation is near 100%, whereas SPIF participation last year was only 43%.
In addition to sponsoring more students, the other schools are usually able to provide a higher stipend than SPIF is able to at Wharton. Traditionally, SPIF has tried to sponsor all strong applicants with high-impact internships. Because of this, the individual grant amounts depend on the success of the pledge drive.
SPIF is hoping to increase pledge participation dramatically this year, in order to sponsor a greater number of students and also to increase the stipend for each student. Pledges can be made in a variety of ways during Pledge Week, which will be held April 16-20 this year.
To make a donation, you can contact your cohort community service representative to pledge, visit the MBA Café during lunch to pledge or pay, or go to the WGA store online to pledge or pay. Checks can be made out to "WGA - Summer Public Interest Fund." SPIF will not collect any money until the summer or the fall of 2007, unless a student decides to give money sooner.
In order to receive a subsidy from SPIF, fellows must work a minimum of eight weeks. However, SPIF will provide a stipend for a maximum of 12 weeks. SPIF will match the employer's contribution up to a weekly maximum of $1000 combined income from the employer and SPIF.
Even if the employer does not offer compensation, SPIF will provide a minimum weekly stipend of $500. Last year, SPIF sponsored 12 fellows, who received between $900 and $4600 from SPIF for the summer.
The selection team for new SPIF fellows is made up of a second-year SPIF board members and faculty representatives. To apply to become a SPIF Fellow, download the application form from the SPIF website (dolphin.upenn.edu/~spif/applying.htm).
The application involves a description of the summer project, the host organization, and the social impact expected to result from the internship. Students need to email the application form, which includes two essays, and a resume by April 9th.
One of the reasons SPIF is so critical is that it allows students to pursue worthwhile internships that they would not be able to pursue otherwise, because most public interest organizations cannot afford to compensate interns at the MBA salary level. SPIF is made possible by the contributions of other Wharton MBA students who are pursuing internships in more traditional fields, such as investment banking or consulting. The suggested donation is 1-2% of the student's summer salary.
It would be easy to remember how much debt you have right now and decide not to pledge. However, one powerful fact to reflect upon is that the typical MBA intern will earn 1% of his or her salary in only four hours out of an entire 10-week internship. Four hours of your time, or about five minutes per day, could help some of your classmates pursue internships in fields that they are passionate about and that help our communities.
In addition to the immediate benefit these donations provide to classmates, the success of SPIF helps promote the Wharton brand among potential applicants and among our peer institutions.
Even though the benefit of SPIF is clear, funding for SPIF at Wharton has fallen consistently below that for similar organizations at other schools, such as Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. One reason for this is that these programs have a longer history and thus have been able to gain formal school acceptance and sometimes even sponsorship.
At all three schools, the program is either fully funded by the school, or student body participation is near 100%, whereas SPIF participation last year was only 43%.
In addition to sponsoring more students, the other schools are usually able to provide a higher stipend than SPIF is able to at Wharton. Traditionally, SPIF has tried to sponsor all strong applicants with high-impact internships. Because of this, the individual grant amounts depend on the success of the pledge drive.
SPIF is hoping to increase pledge participation dramatically this year, in order to sponsor a greater number of students and also to increase the stipend for each student. Pledges can be made in a variety of ways during Pledge Week, which will be held April 16-20 this year.
To make a donation, you can contact your cohort community service representative to pledge, visit the MBA Café during lunch to pledge or pay, or go to the WGA store online to pledge or pay. Checks can be made out to "WGA - Summer Public Interest Fund." SPIF will not collect any money until the summer or the fall of 2007, unless a student decides to give money sooner.
In order to receive a subsidy from SPIF, fellows must work a minimum of eight weeks. However, SPIF will provide a stipend for a maximum of 12 weeks. SPIF will match the employer's contribution up to a weekly maximum of $1000 combined income from the employer and SPIF.
Even if the employer does not offer compensation, SPIF will provide a minimum weekly stipend of $500. Last year, SPIF sponsored 12 fellows, who received between $900 and $4600 from SPIF for the summer.
The selection team for new SPIF fellows is made up of a second-year SPIF board members and faculty representatives. To apply to become a SPIF Fellow, download the application form from the SPIF website (dolphin.upenn.edu/~spif/applying.htm).
The application involves a description of the summer project, the host organization, and the social impact expected to result from the internship. Students need to email the application form, which includes two essays, and a resume by April 9th.
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