Spring 2025 Paid Undergraduate Intern, Organizing Division

The ACLU seeks an Undergraduate Intern in the Organizing Division of the National Political Advocacy Department (NPAD) of the ACLU’s National office in Washington, DC. 

The Team: 

The National Political Advocacy Department (NPAD) works to strengthen the efforts of the ACLU at the federal, state, and local levels of government. The department harnesses the political power that comes from having more than eight million members and supporters, as well as affiliates in every state. By organizing, grassroots lobbying, and issue campaigns using modern tactics, the ACLU seeks to achieve change as profound in the legislative, administrative and electoral arenas as it has accomplished through the courts. Within NPAD, the Organizing Division plans and executes high-impact grassroots organizing programs, in collaboration with both the national office and affiliate colleagues, that result in immediate-term success and long-term capacity building. We work to ensure that supporters, volunteers, community leaders and staff are empowered and supported, realize their power and put it work to defend and advance civil liberties for durable and meaningful change. 

What You’ll Do: 

Our organizing intern cohort supports the ACLU’s organizing program, including national and state-specific campaigns. We seek to provide young organizers with opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of organizing, grassroots leadership development, and campaign planning and execution. Interns will have the opportunity to attend substantive meetings, events, and conversations on organizing, political campaigns, and broader ACLU work. This position will be directly supervised by Organizers within the Organizing Division and interns will frequently work on: 

• Key legislative priorities at the state and national level
• Rapid response efforts for urgent and important social and political developments, as they arise 
• Supporting and scaling volunteer recruitment and membership engagement efforts

Your Day to Day 

Interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working alongside members of our National Organizing Team to execute local and national ACLU campaigns by:

• Engaging with ACLU People Power volunteers, supporting their work, and overseeing their leadership development 
• Participating in volunteer and staff-facing trainings and webinars on key organizing skills 
• Drafting written materials for campaigns, such as email and text copy and providing insight on campaign plans
• Immersing yourself in distributed and field organizing tactics to grow your organizing skills 
• Taking initiative by identifying additional projects you’re interested in engaging on
• Working collaboratively and respectfully with a diverse team of colleagues to co-create an inclusive and productive team culture 
• Other duties, as assigned

What You’ll Bring: 

• A commitment to defending and advancing civil liberties, civil rights, and social justice
• A demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIB) and the ability to apply an EDIB analysis to the organizing work we engage in both internally and externally
• Demonstrated interest in organizing as a theory of change for driving social and political movements 
• A willingness to approach the work with a growth mindset and an ethos of learning-by-doing 
• Self-motivated and able to work independently and as part of a collaborative team to bring projects to successful completion 
• An ability to work in a fast-paced environment and to meet clear deadlines

Nice to haves: 

• Previous experience organizing or working on campaigns
• Proficiency in programs like Microsoft Office, Google Suite, GetThru, Asana and Slack. 

Future ACLU-ers Will: 

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflict 

Internship Logistics: 

• Location: Our internship program offers a limited number of remote or hybrid intern positions. This internship is remote or hybrid from our DC National office

• Time Commitment: Term-time internships may be completed on a part-time basis (15 or 20 hours/week) or full-time (35 hours/week)

• Internship Duration: Full-time internships span 10 consecutive weeks and part-time 12 weeks. 

• Stipend: A stipend is available for students who are lawfully authorized to work and do not receive compensation from other sources. Students with external funding may receive a partial stipend to bring their total funding up to the level of the ACLU’s stipend amount for that term. Arrangements can be made with educational institutions for work/study or course credit. Below are the stipend rates:

• $20/hour for undergraduate students or equivalent experience  

Why the ACLU: 

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people. 

Our Commitment to Accessibility, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  

Accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us. 

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. 

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.