WWF Overview
For 60 years, WWF has worked to help people and nature thrive. As one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, WWF works in more than 100 countries, connecting cutting-edge conservation science with the collective power of our partners in the field – with one million members in the United States and five million supporters globally, as well as partnerships with communities, companies, and governments.
At WWF, we are working to create an organization where the richness of all our unique views, experiences, and backgrounds combine to create the most sustainable and inclusive conservation outcomes possible, bringing the greatest benefit to the planet and every person who lives on it.
Across the many cultures and individuals that represent WWF, we are unified by one mission, one brand, and one common set of values: Courage, Respect, Integrity and Collaboration.
BRIDGE is WWF’s summer internship program. Launched in 2021, it is a paid internship opportunity aimed at a pool of talented undergraduate and graduate students who could bring fresh thinking and innovation to the environmental sector. In particular, WWF aims to employ interns who have not previously had a breadth of professional experience and have not previously considered conservation as a career pathway.
Position Summary
This internship is designed for a graduate student with a passion around corporate sustainability and influencing companies to take action for forests, and an interest in understanding WWF’s approaches to influencing the private sector, particularly around the forest/human health nexus. The intern will shadow a full-time program manager and support the teams’ efforts to engage a specific priority to reduce its impacts on forests and fund nature-based solutions in tropical forests around the world. The intern will also have one discrete project to refine information from a key tropical forest landscape to help our US office make the business case for landscape investments in critically important landscapes, aligned with the principles of WWF’s Forests Forward corporate engagement program and WWF’s Nature-based Solutions Origination Platform, a model for scaling up, aligning and mobilizing public and private finance for high-quality nature-based solutions.
Internship Description:
Conduct qualitative and quantitative research on companies within a specified sector to understand current sustainability and NbS commitments and potential alignment with WWF programs and landscape investment opportunities Distill information about key landscape opportunities into specific proposals and pitch decks Shadow a WWF staff member at meetings (including with team leadership and other WWF colleagues), take notes, participate in strategy discussions and follow-ups Present lessons learned from internship and findings from research project at the end of the internship. Attend weekly check-ins with intern manager to track progress and learning objectives.
Minimum Requirements:
Pursuing a graduate program related to business, supply chain management, sustainability, biopharma, or economics. Those studying outside these areas are still highly encouraged to apply. Must be an actively enrolled student and not received degree at time of internship start date (June 16, 2025). Experience in performing qualitative or quantitative research. Excellent writing and presentation skills. Knowledge of corporate sustainability, forestry, and current trends in nature-based solutions. Academic experience will count in-lieu of work experience. Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Able to conduct themselves professionally and with discretion on sensitive matters. Identifies and aligns with WWF’s core values: Courage, Integrity, Respect, and Collaboration. Demonstrates courage by speaking up even when it is difficult, or unpopular. Builds trust with colleagues by acting with integrity, owning mistakes, and holding oneself accountable. Welcomes other points of view and ideas, recognizing and embracing different and contrary perspectives with kindness, curiosity, and encouragement. Makes conscious efforts to promote cooperative practices, behaviors, and ways of working across many groups and individuals.
Preferred Qualifications: