GradFUTURES Social Impact Fellowships

Gain Experience and Make an Impact!

Explore potential career paths and gain invaluable professional skills.
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GradFUTURES Social Impact Fellowships are funded, part-time experiential opportunities for Princeton graduate students with nonprofit and public sector organizations that have partnered with the Graduate School. Each fellowship is custom-designed to support your academic and professional goals, allowing you to explore your unique interests and engage in meaningful projects with a flexible 10-hour per-week time commitment during the academic semester or the summer. 

Through these immersive opportunities, you will:

  • Contribute to the social impact mission of a nonprofit or public sector organization in ways that address local, regional, national, and/or global challenges
  • Participate in a unique learning experience to acquire and hone professional skills and competencies
  • Gain exposure to organizational dynamics and leadership strategies via shadowing and participation in meetings and presentations
  • Collaborate with team members and experienced staff to produce meaningful deliverables
  • Develop a broad knowledge of the organization's work through exposure to critical issues in the field
  • Receive one-on-one mentorship and coaching from staff and leadership
  • Present projects or publish articles to showcase your skills and experiences

Host organizations work closely with the Graduate School to determine the learning outcomes and professional development goals for each fellowship. You must receive approval from your faculty adviser. 

Interested in learning more?

Graduate students, faculty, and potential experiential program partners, please contact Peter Krause, Assistant Director of Graduate Experiential Programs for additional information. 

Isla Xi Han, GS, ARC
“Sometimes you don't realize how transferable your skill sets are until you have to apply them in different circumstances—this works both ways between industry and academia. The GradFUTURES Social Impact Fellowship gave me the chance to reevaluate my skills and research field from a novel perspective. It's both reassuring and freeing to see how academic trainings can be situated in real-world contexts."

Isla Xi Han, GS, ARC

Graduate Student Employment Policy and Funding Considerations

All graduate students must adhere to the Graduate Student Employment policy when participating in an opportunity that is compensated or funded by an external entity or an experiential opportunity funded by the Graduate School. When participating in internships that involve receiving compensation from private sector organizations, paid positions at national government labs or research institutes, and research assistantships funded by institutions outside of Princeton, graduate students must obtain approval from their faculty adviser prior to acceptance of a position and must also complete an External Opportunity Application Form. Additionally, all international graduate students must review and comply with the guidelines on the Davis International Center’s Employment Page to avoid risking their visa immigration status. The Davis International Center maintains a list of all graduate programs that offer Curricular Practical Training (CPT) for international graduate students during the academic year or summer. Please note that CPT is only available to international graduate students with F-1 visas when an academic department requires an experiential opportunity or offers an internship course as part of the established curriculum. International graduate students whose departments do not offer CPT are encouraged to speak with the director of graduate study about their interest in pursuing a paid experiential opportunity at an external organization. International graduate students are also encouraged to explore the following experiential fellowships offered by GradFUTURES (and funded by the Graduate School) which do not require work authorization or CPT: University Administrative Fellowships, Community College Teaching Fellowships, Social Impact Fellowships, Higher Education Leadership Fellowships, and Professional Development Associates. 

Our Commitment to Equal Opportunity and Nondiscrimination in Experiential Programs

Princeton University is committed to equal opportunity and non-discrimination. To maximize excellence, we seek talent from all segments of American society and the world, and we take steps to ensure everyone at Princeton can thrive while they are here. Princeton does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, disability, or any other protected characteristic, and Princeton does not provide special benefits or preferential treatment on the basis of a protected characteristic. These principles apply to our experiential programs, which are open to all graduate students (pending work authorization requirements for international students) and comply with federal and state non-discrimination laws. All experiential program partners and host organizations must adhere to an equitable recruitment and selection process within a framework of professionally accepted recruiting, interviewing, and selection practices that comply with federal and state non-discrimination laws. Also, all experiential program partners and host organizations must agree to provide an inclusive and welcoming learning environment for Princeton graduate student fellows/interns that aligns with the University’s conduct standards.