Evaluation & Learning Intern - Summer

Position:
Evaluation & Learning Intern - Summer 2027

Reports to:

Senior Evaluation Officer

Location:

Chicago, IL (Hybrid)
Duration:
June 8 - August 11, 2027
Compensation:
Paid Internship (Hourly rates will start at $22.00/hour)

The John

D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation is one of the nation’s largest independent foundations. The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. Mac Arthur invests in solving some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, promoting local justice reform in the U.S., revitalizing local news, expanding who creates, uses, and benefits from artificial intelligence, and strengthening the well-being of Native communities.

In addition to the Mac Arthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago. The Foundation also maintains offices in Nigeria and India.

The Evaluation and Learning department addresses measurement, evaluation, and learning needs for the institution and its grantmaking programs. We do this in a variety of ways: conduct evaluations, often in partnership with long-standing evaluation and learning partners; facilitate and support strategy design; analyze data to understand changes to outcomes, landscapes, networks, and ecosystems; conduct sense making and meaning making of complex data;

and perform data analysis and visualization of different data types (quantitative, qualitative, and spatial). We support organizational change, emergent strategies, and effective grant craft. We believe that values-driven, informed decision-making leads to useful insights, more effective stewardship of the Foundation’s resources, and meaningful results. We center learning and create space for critical thinking and reflection. We prioritize relationships and seek to be responsive to what the programs and institutions need.

We are rigorous, flexible, and creative in evaluation design, data collection, analysis, and reporting.

The purpose of the intern in the Evaluation and Learning team will be two-fold: (1) to meaningfully engage and contribute to various activities and projects to gain practical experience in evaluation and learning; and two, to gain wide exposure to evaluation and learning activities, including different measurement and evaluation tools and application of evaluation and learning tools in different sectors, including climate change, impact investing, news and journalism, and technology and AI.

They will also exercise flexibility in contributing to tasks that arise and smaller projects that will contribute to their professional development. This intern will also have opportunities to shadow different staff members to understand various roles and responsibilities.

• Conducting bespoke research projects using AI or supporting the design and facilitation of emergent learning exercises.
• Practicing hands‑on evaluative and learning tools.
• Create and conducting presentations, meeting with different internal and external partners, and practicing project management.
• Attend EL team meetings and relevant Foundation events.

• The ideal candidate is a student in an undergraduate or graduate program, possibly in a nonprofit management, social sciences, public health, or…