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Hello Friend of TIPS,
The days have grown darker as Autumn deepens and the leaves begin to blaze in jewel-toned hues, and the work of our interns, nonprofit partners and staff at TIPS keeps moving onward.
Grab a blanket and comforting beverage before you read on for the latest from the TIPS community.
P.S. Happy Halloween!
Over eight weeks this summer, our 86 interns contributed over 13,000 hours of meaningful work to their nonprofit placement sites, reaching over 20,000 local community members who access nonprofit services.
The culmination of the internships was Celebration of Service; the TIPS community, local partners, and interns and their families united to celebrate this year's cohort and hear about their work during our intern poster presentations.
Images from Celebration of Service by Maggie Lai Photography.
Our interns had so many amazing things to share about their internships in their Intern Stories, which are published on our website; here's a snippet of one intern's experience:
"Working with kids at the camps taught me so much about sailing and teaching kids. Helping to bring in the boats as they came back in from the lake, and going out on the safety boats to watch the kids while they sailed showed me how camps operate, and how much work goes into teaching new sailors.
Later in my internship, I transitioned to working more with the livery and boat shop. There I learned valuable customer service skills while renting out rowboats to walkups, and teaching them how to row. I also learned a lot about boat repair[...]"
- Miles Von Lehman, The Center for Wooden Boats Intern
Have you considered volunteering with TIPS?
Our largest need for volunteers is during our intern review and interview process, which occurs during February and March. If you are interested in reviewing intern applications or serving on our interview panels, please sign up for more details!
NOTE: Unless you are a TIPS intern alumnus, we cannot provide volunteer opportunities to minors.
Opportunity Corner:
TIPS' Opportunity Corner is updated quarterly and is filled with local volunteer opportunities with fantastic local organizations.
Some of these opportunities are open to minors - check them out!
Our alumni are up to all sorts of interesting activities: check out their career and community service updates in our latest TIPS Rewind Instagram Series post.
A moment of appreciation for our Board Members:
Our board members have been working hard over the past months to recruit new corporate sponsors to support our mission, and their work had paid off: we are delighted to continue partnering with so many great companies, as well as to forge new relationships with many new businesses: The Muqtadir Team at CrossCountry Mortgage, Delta Dental, Lockton, and Macro Health. Welcome to the TIPS community!
Luncheon Updates:
TIPS' Annual Luncheon will be held at the Columbia Tower Club on November 7, 2025 from 11am-1pm.
This year's theme is The Power of Partnerships: Great People Doing Great Things, and we are excited to showcase some of our numerous Puget Sound area partners and the interns we placed with them. We're also excited to present Meghan Barnes with this year's Alumni Award.
Our tables are FULL so we are not including a link to attend, but we want to thank everyone who is attending, hosting, or sponsoring a table!
Thank you to all of the corporate sponsors supporting our 2025 Annual Luncheon in November!
Our Shared Impact: Our Work Depends on You!
Stay tuned later this year for our forthcoming 2025 Impact Report!
Our 2024 Impact Report is still available on our website via our "Impact" page!
Our 75 2024 interns collectively carried out 11,000 hours of meaningful work, serving over 20,000 community members throughout the Puget Sound region. In 2024, we received over 590 application and we hired 75 interns.
2024 interns at Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center in Redmond.
In our last newsletter we shared that we had received grant support from Shinnyo-en Foundation, The Norcliffe Foundation, Rotary Club of Issaquah, and a funder who requested anonymity. Since July, we have received grants from five additional funders: Crane Foundation, Tulalip Tribes Charitable Contributions, Seattle Credit Union (CU) Foundation, The Glaser Foundation, and Moccassin Lake Foundation.
We are thrilled to continue our partnerships with so many funders, and we are excited to share that we are in the first class of grantees who were awarded Seattle CU Foundation's inaugural Investing in Our Communities Microgrant! Our Development Manager is attending an event hosted by the foundation next week to celebrate this award and meet fellow grantees.
It costs TIPS around $5,000 for every intern, and every grant and donation dollar is crucial to our ongoing success. All grant funds directly support our interns by subsidizing a portion of our intern salaries, our largest program expense!
TIPS' Program Director Elle Gohr and TIPS supporter and Crane employee Grant Kauno accept the grant from Crane Foundation at their awards celebration.
Nonprofit Partner Spotlight:
Kirkland Arts Center
MISSION: Cultivating quality arts experiences, connecting communities, and increasing creative engagement.
Kirkland Arts Center is located on Market Street in Kirkland's downtown area, and hosts a huge array of year-round workshops, classes, artist talks, and numerous FREE events. Over the summer, they host FREE movie screenings inside their gallery space and an annual Pride event.
Their gallery is always FREE to the public and currently features two artist's exhibits.
2025 TIPS interns Yvette and Isha were placed at the Kirkland Arts Center together, and they curated this exhibit on the history of the organization.
Thank you so much for your continued interest and participation in the TIPS community. With your support, we are able to provide local teens with the opportunity to serve their communities in meaningful ways.
Wishing you a cozy Autumn!
Very Warm regards,
Thank you to our corporate sponsors and grant partners whose support makes our program possible!
