Position: Conservation Programs Intern Supervisor: Manager, Conservation Partnerships
Status: Temporary, FLSA Non-exempt Location: Washington, DC
Salary: Paid, Stipend Timing: Summer 2019, exact dates flexible
Sustainable Forestry Initiative® Inc. (SFI) is a sustainability leader that stands for future forests. We are an
independent, non-profit organization that provides supply chain assurances, produces conservation outcomes,
and supports education and community engagement. SFI works with the forest sector, brand owners,
conservation groups, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous peoples,
governments, and universities. SFI Certification Standards and on-product labels help consumers make
responsible purchasing decisions. Additionally, we oversee the SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships
Grant Program, which funds research and community building, and Project Learning Tree®, (PLT) which
develops students’ appreciation for and knowledge of the environment. SFI Inc. is governed by an independent
three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social, and economic sectors equally. SFI believes
caring for forests improves everyone’s quality of life.
In collaboration with SFI’s Manager of Conservation Partnerships (MCP), the SFI Conservation Programs Intern
will advance SFI’s mission by developing grant datasets essential to delivering a programmatic mapping tool. The
intern will also conduct research to support the development of a university engagement strategy, and provide
support on other SFI projects as needed.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Grant Program Dataset Development:
Since 2010, SFI has awarded 126 Conservation and Community Partnerships Grants across the North American
landscape and a wide range of thematic areas. To help SFI communicate impact and better understand the scope
and geographic distribution of projects, the intern will develop grant program datasets. This could include:
• Develop a location dataset for SFI Grant projects to facilitate GIS Mapping and ultimately the creation of a
dynamic and user-friendly program map on the SFI website. This will entail reviewing grant data to
determine the central project locations as well as areas of impact.
• Work with existing data to generate thematic tags for grants. Tags will assist in generating a sorting tool that
allows users to locate grants by specific topic areas (active vs. complete, community vs. conservation,
biodiversity vs. other conservation research, etc.)
University Engagement Research:
SFI proactively partners with Universities to advance understanding of sustainable forestry and support the next
generation of resource professionals. To advance engagement, the intern will work with the MCP to research
universities with leading natural resource sustainability and environmental education programs. Investigations
could entail:
• Determining areas of intersection for SFI within university sustainability plans.
• Identifying relevant sustainability-related events, programs, and other opportunities.
• Generate a list of universities with forest land holdings and key information related to those lands (i.e., forest
area, certification status, etc.)
• Determine which targeted schools are near Forests certified to SFI. Determine university engagement with
SFI Program Participants. For instance, do the schools partner for field tours of certified lands, or surveillance
Megamenu Social