The posting
The Koch Internship Program (KIP) is a paid experiential learning program run by Stand Together Fellowships that offers professional development, leadership training, and meaningful work experience at non-profits tackling some of our nation's most pressing policy challenges all over the United States. Early-career professionals including undergraduate/graduate/law students and recent graduates are encouraged to apply. Eligible candidates will be geographically located in and authorized to work in the United States through the duration of the program. Successful candidates will interview with both our non-profit partner organizations and Stand Together Fellowships staff, so we strongly encourage you to begin the admissions process early!
About Open the Books
Open the Books is a project of American Transparency, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to educating the public on waste, fraud and abuse and fighting for real-time spending transparency. We believe transparency building block of representative government that makes all our other freedoms possible.
We operate the largest private database of public spending in history: 10 billion points of data that includes all federal salaries, line-by-line federal spending, all 50 state “checkbooks,” millions of state-level salaries and pension funds, and spending across more than 17,000 municipalities.
We won’t stop until we’ve captured every dime and put it online, in a close to real-time as possible. The database is open to journalists, researchers, activists, public officials – and most importantly – every American taxpayer.
About the role
The Data Analysis Intern will help brainstorm and develop creative research projects that leverage Open the Books’ proprietary database to tell unique stories about government waste. Leveraging the nation’s largest repository of public spending, a successful candidate will be excited to consider data comparisons that can move the needle on the conversation about wasteful spending at every level of government (federal, state and local).
Candidates with an interest in quantitative research and those who follow the news cycle closely will be a fit with our team of watchdog journalists!
This is a full-time, fully remote role.
Responsibilities
- Work with Deputy Policy Director to understand the depth and breadth of available datasets
- Work with the Deputy Policy Director and analyze the relevant datasets to draw interesting conclusions
- Brainstorm and pitch comparative analyses that can offer taxpayers new insights about the efficacy of public spending
Qualifications
- Willing to proactively report progress and pitch ideas in a remote work environment
- Proficient with Microsoft Excel with an interest in further training on data analytics tools.
- Experience with visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI or comparable tools is a plus.
- Enthusiastic about using data to tell surprising, counterintuitive stories about public policy outcomes
- Aligned with our vision to hold government accountable for its use of tax dollars and steer public spending back toward founding principles
Stand Together Fellowships believes that diversity in experiences, perspectives, knowledge and ideas fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success. Our admissions office treats all program participants and applicants with honesty, dignity, respect and sensitivity. We welcome all qualified applicants regardless of color, race, religion, religious creed, sex, gender or gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, ethnicity, ancestry, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy (including medical needs which may arise from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), military and veteran status, genetic information, marital or familial status, political affiliation, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances.
