Are you interested in learning how to run a successful retreat and education center? Join us as a Program Administration Intern to support a wide range of OAEC’s internal programs through our admin, retreats, operations, and communications departments. Program Admin Interns are an integral part of the OAEC team supporting both the public-facing and invisible structures of the organization. Interns will gain insight and exposure to the inner-workings and day-to-day running of a thriving, land-based non-profit and retreat center. Depending on the year, interns typically spend 2/3 of their time completing office work and 1/3 of their time retreat hosting. This internship is for you if you are a systems thinker, people person, and self-directed learner looking to understand the bigger picture and experience the nitty gritty of what it takes to keep an organization afloat!
We are honored to have multiple past interns currently working full time in our operations departments and many folks have gone on to successful careers in the nonprofit world.
Typical Tasks
- Provide general support and management of the OAEC office, including responding to incoming phone and email inquiries and managing the office space including mail, online orders, inventory, finance filing and kitchen restocking.
- Serve as the day-time Retreat Host when social and environmental justice organizations are on-site during intern office hours. See our Movement Building Retreats page to learn more about our Retreat Program. Interns are encouraged to take on additional hourly work as Retreat Hosts.
- Assist in managing logistics for our Permaculture Design Courses and other emergent courses.
- Assist the Production Manager for events throughout the year including the famed Chautauqua.
- Use and update OAEC’s CRM, organization-wide calendar, and point of sale systems.
- Support the nursery program with marketing and communications including managing the nursery Instagram account and newsletter.
- Work on special projects for core programs and departments as needed.
General Qualifications
- Good foundation in interpersonal and written communication skills, prior administrative experience is desirable.
- Enjoys interacting with the public and being in the service of others. Prior hospitality or customer service experience is desirable.
- An eye for cleanliness and propensity for keeping spaces beautiful and organized.
- Willingness to give and receive feedback in a compassionate and caring manner.
- A team player who is willing to jump in and help out with emergent issues throughout the work day, even if they aren’t exactly in your job description or what you expected to be doing at that moment.
- Experience with Mac computers and Google Workspace. Experience in Canva, Adobe, WordPress, Instagram and Facebook is helpful. You will learn how to use our constituent relationship management (CRM) software Fundly.
- Ability to be detail-oriented and focused in a sometimes busy and social office.
- Enjoys multi-tasking and juggling priorities with the capacity to structure self-guided work throughout the day.
Applications for 2025 internships are now closed. Applications for 2026 internships open on August 1st, 2025 and close on October 15th, 2025.
