First Crowdfunding Platform to Create Jobs for College Students
Internet Webpages Newspaper (IWN) Fund uses the power of crowdfunding to finance 100% Paid Internships for America's college students. IWN Internship Fund is the first of its kind platform dedicated solely to raising funds to hire qualified college students to work at IWN, located in downtown Chicago, IL USA.
Interns Work on Real Projects in Collaborative Workspace
Interns work in a collaborative workspace on real projects being executed (not fake, "mock up" assignments for their portfolio). Projects include publishing, online communities and special events. IWN is located with a 15,000 square foot complex in downtown Chicago's Loop central business district, steps away from State Street, Theatre District, Millennium Park, Block37 shopping center and the legendary Chicago Theatre.
Cloud-Based, Self-Hosted WordPress Crowdfunding Platform
Kickstarter and IndieGoGo are great crowd funding platforms. However, they are not the only online solution for crowd funding. IWN Events manages the Chicago WordPress Meetup Group with over 780 members. IWN Internship Fund chose to utilize a WordPress plugin to create its own crowd funding platform hosted on Rackspace Cloud Sites, one of the USA's top tier cloud hosting providers.
100% Paid Internships 2012 Goal: $100k and 25-50 Paid Internships
IWN Internship Fund is seeking to raise $100k in 2012 to fund between 25-50 paid internship jobs. Each intern will receive a minimum of 120-160 hours fully paid in advance at an average rate of $8.25 per hour over a semester period. Interns are required to have a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA) and be currently enrolled or a recent college graduate. All monies raised from crowd funding, minus PayPal fees and employment expenses (payroll, taxes, insurance, etc) are given to the intern. No fees are retained by IWN. Interns receive 100% of the money.
Creating Paid Internship Jobs for College Students Using Crowdfunding
1. P aid I nternships
How and why college students deserve to be compensated using an
innovative method: Crowdfunding jobs that help put America back to work.
IWNInternshipFund.com
2. R ealit y C heck
NACE 2011 Student Survey
indicates about half of internships are paid
Percent of
Paid Internships
are about
Source: National Association of
Colleges and Employers
2011 Student Survey
IWNInternshipFund.com
3. I lleg al or N o t ?
Internship Programs under The Fair Labor Standards Act.
Do unpaid interns qualify for minimum wages in their state?
Review Next Slide
for
The Test for Unpaid Interns
Source: US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division
IWNInternshipFund.com
4. I nterns are no t E mployees I f :
Internship Programs under The Fair Labor Standards Act.
The following six criteria must be applied when making this determination:
Do unpaid interns qualify for minimum wages in their state?
1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar
to training which would be given in an educational environment;
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing
staff;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the
intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent
in the internship.
IWNInternshipFund.com
5. M us t P ay M inimum W age
Internship Programs under The Fair Labor Standards Act
that do not meet six criteria are considered employees.
Illinois Minimum Wage Rate for Employees:
$8.25 hourSource: State of Illinois Department of Labor
IWNInternshipFund.com
6. IWN I nternship F und
IWN Internship Fund prospective interns must meet certain
grade point average (GPA)
Requirement
3.0 GPA
Minimum grade point average to become eligible for IWN Internship Fund
IWNInternshipFund.com