Episode Notes
In this episode of The Open Sanctuary Podcast, Executive DirectorThe individual formally in charge of final decision making at an organization, who sometimes works closely with the organization’s Board of Directors. Sometimes a Founder is an Executive Director, especially early in a nonprofit’s growth stages. Mckenzee and NonprofitA non-governmental organization whose primary purpose is something other than selling goods or services. Specialist Julia discuss the legal and ethical parameters of creating effective internship programs for your farmed animal sanctuaryAn animal sanctuary that primarily cares for rescued animals that were farmed by humans.. Internship programs can be a way to create capacity at your sanctuary, but they also require careful planning, and we’re here to run you through it all!
This Episode’s Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources:
- Creating A Rewarding Internship Program At Your Animal Sanctuary | The Open Sanctuary Project
- Overview Of Animal Sanctuary Staff Positions | The Open Sanctuary Project
- The Value Of Staff Cross-Training At Your Animal Sanctuary | The Open Sanctuary Project
- Recognizing And Managing Compassion Fatigue At Your Animal Sanctuary | The Open Sanctuary Project
- Recognizing And Preventing Burnout At Your Animal Sanctuary | The Open Sanctuary Project
Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated)
Julia Magnus: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Open Sanctuary Podcast. I’m Julia Magnus, the nonprofit specialist here at OSP, and I’m delighted to be joined by my pal and executive director, Mckenzee Griffler. Hey, Mckenzee.
Mckenzee Griffler: Hey, Julia. Happy to be back on the pod. Today, we are excited to tackle an important topic for many animal sanctuaries, which is creating a rewarding, sustainable, and, most importantly, legally compliant internship program. It’s going to be a real fun one.
Julia Magnus: Yes. And as anyone who has spent time involved with an animal sanctuary knows, the reality of this work is that you’re constantly, relentlessly on the hunt for resources. And often the resource that we’re hunting for is extra hands. Caring for rescued residents, managing grounds, handling fundraising, organizing volunteers—the list of tasks to be done in sanctuary work is truly endless.
Mckenzee Griffler: Yes, sanctuary really is a 24/7 labor of love, as all of our listeners undoubtedly know, and robust volunteer programs are truly the lifeblood that keeps sanctuaries running smoothly. They give founders and staff some essential time to breathe. So naturally, many sanctuaries start thinking, how can we take this to the next level? What if maybe we bolstered our volunteer pool with a formal internship program?
Julia Magnus: Right? And on paper, it sounds like an absolute no-brainer, an easy win-win. Sanctuary gets dedicated, consistent help for a set period, and the intern gets immersive hands-on experience and professional references in the sanctuary world. But, and this is a massive but, if you’re based in the United States, you have to be incredibly careful. You have to develop your internship program with a deep awareness of our labor laws and in the true mindful spirit of what an internship is actually supposed to be.
Mckenzee Griffler: 100%. An internship is not a plug-and-play solution for a labor shortage. Certainly not free labor. So, if a sanctuary isn’t designing these programs mindfully, we’re risking exploiting well-intentioned people who just want to help animals. And we can also put our organizations in serious legal jeopardy. So today, we’re going to break down the legalities, the logistics, the structure, and the emotional realities of sanctuary internships.
Julia Magnus: Sounds good to me. So Mckenzee, why don’t we start with the basics? What actually defines an internship? Because the legal definition is, unfortunately, a little bit murky at best.
Mckenzee Griffler: Murky is definitely the correct word, Julia. But generally speaking, an internship is regarded as a structured, temporary work experience where a student or somebody considering a career change is immersed in an organization to gain professional references and valuable skills. It has a defined start and end date. And here’s the golden rule: an internship must primarily benefit the intern.
Julia Magnus: Let’s say that again because it’s the core of everything. The internship experience must primarily benefit the intern. It is not a mechanism for assigning all the miserable, repetitive, or strenuous tasks that nobody else at your sanctuary wants to perform. And it is absolutely not a way to secure free labor.
Mckenzee Griffler: Exactly. So, if you’re designing a program thinking, “Excellent, now we’ve got someone to shovel the poop for 10 hours a day, six days a week for free,” that is not an internship. That is, unfortunately, as the government sees it, misclassified labor. Also, interns should generally never be in sole charge of performing any task that is critical to the daily operation of your organization. So, if your sanctuary can’t function or keep its residents safe on a Tuesday because the intern called in sick, then that intern is, unfortunately, functioning as an employee, not an intern. There always has to be a backup operational plan.
Julia Magnus: That is such an important boundary. An internship is supposed to have a heavy educational component. So there should be active training, mentorship, and a method of demonstrating their learned experience. And of course, that doesn’t mean that interns can’t do helpful, productive work. They absolutely can, and they do. But the relationship is educational first and operational second. They’re there to learn, and you’re there to teach them.
Mckenzee Griffler: And that right there, Julia, is the mindset shift that sanctuaries need to think about. You’d be transitioning from being a task manager to being an educator and a mentor. And if you don’t have the internal capacity, the time, or the staff to actively teach and guide someone, then your sanctuary probably isn’t ready for an internship program. And that’s okay. It’s so much better to wait than to launch a program that ends up being exploitative or stressful for both sides.
Julia Magnus: I think your mention of capacity here is important. Last summer, we had a lot of discussions on this very podcast about the question of capacity. And it’s important to remember that building sanctuary capacity will also require sanctuary capacity. In this case, yes, having interns can help enhance your capacity, but designing a program thoughtfully is going to require some capacity as well. You also mentioned the question of exploitationExploitation is characterized by the abuse of a position of physical, psychological, emotional, social, or economic vulnerability to obtain agreement from someone (e.g., humans and nonhuman animals) or something (e.g, land and water) that is unable to reasonably refuse an offer or demand. It is also characterized by excessive self gain at the expense of something or someone else’s labor, well-being, and/or existence., which is a tricky issue when it comes to internships. So, we should talk a bit about compensation when it comes to interns. Mckenzee, how can an intern be compensated, and what are the traps that sanctuaries can fall into when it comes to this?
Mckenzee Griffler: So, generally, there are three paths you can take. First, an intern can work on a pure, unpaid volunteer basis. Second, they can work as a fully compensated employee, which means that you have to follow every single federal and state labor law governing employment. So, that’s minimum wage, overtime, payroll taxes, and workers’ comp. You name it, you probably have to follow it. Or third, they could receive a small stipend.
Julia Magnus: So that third option, the stipend, is where so many sanctuaries land themselves in hot water with the Department of Labor. They think, “We can’t afford a full wage for an intern, but we’ll give them $500 a month as a stipend to help with expenses”. So what’s actually the legal reality there?
Mckenzee Griffler: So the reality is that stipends tend to be a major audit trigger. So if you’re classifying an intern as a volunteer, remember you must not treat them as an employee. So generally, it’s actually not advisable to offer a stipend to a volunteer intern at all. But if you’re going to do this, you have to be extremely cautious. The United States Department of Labor looks at stipends extremely closely. Some folks offer guidance to the effect that any stipend you offer must be nominal. Specifically, it shouldn’t exceed 20% of what it would actually cost you to hire a regular employee to perform the work that’s in the intern’s department.
Julia Magnus: So, that 20% limit is a massive detail that folks miss. If a regular animal care staff member costs $3,000 a month, a volunteer intern stipend in that department cannot cross $600 a month. Or the Department of Labor may rule that that stipend is actually a wage, which would trigger employee classification retroactively, and that could mean back wages, back taxes, massive fines, and potentially a lawsuit. And that’s a huge risk for a small nonprofit.
Mckenzee Griffler: Exactly. It’s a classic example of trying to do something nice, you know, giving a little money to help out, but having it backfire dramatically because of the strictness of labor laws.
Julia Magnus: With all this said, there are potentially other ways that interns could be rewarded that don’t involve financial compensation. For example, you could consider partnering with universities to structure your program so that interns can receive college credit. Each university will have different requirements. Some might require a certain number of hours. Others could require specific written assessments of the interns, journals, or supervisor evaluations to qualify the internship as a suitable replacement for formal classroom time. But keep in mind another rule you should keep foremost in your mind when it comes to internships: whether unpaid, stipend-based, or for college credit, you should make it abundantly, explicitly clear in writing that completing this internship does not entitle the intern to a paid job at your sanctuary when it ends.
Mckenzee Griffler: Absolutely. This prevents either party from treating the internship as an unpaid trial period or unpaid training program for future employees, which is another major legal violation. It protects the sanctuary, ensures that there are no false expectations, and keeps the focus entirely on the learning experience. And let me just step out of my sanctuary world and into the rest of Mckenzee world for a second to say that I had two internships in college, one with a major national company. And this major national company ended up getting sued, and I ended up getting a large check in the mail months after I was done with my internship because they had misclassified all of their interns.
Julia Magnus: Ooh. So this doesn’t just happen to small organizations. Like, this isn’t just a bullying thing. The Department of Labor really cares about classification of employees, and the penalties can be severe. So I think it’s important that we get granular, then, when it comes to the question of the legality of an internship. So if the Department of Labor ever audits your sanctuary, or if an intern themselves raises the question, how does the government actually decide if your intern is a volunteer or a misclassified employee? They use what’s called the primary beneficiary test under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is a seven-point test. Why don’t we walk through these seven factors so everyone can use them to evaluate their own programs?
Mckenzee Griffler: Yes, this test is absolutely the ultimate legal standard, and I hope sanctuaries are listening in carefully. This test really looks at the ultimate economic reality of the relationship between, say, a sanctuary and an intern. It doesn’t matter what contract an intern signed. They can’t sign away their legal rights. So again, the Department of Labor is going to look at these seven factors. What’s factor number one?
Julia Magnus: Okay, factor number one—and a quick side note, we do have a written resource on this subject that we’ll link in the show notes, so you don’t have to memorize these now. Just check the written resource if you want to get the whole thing in writing in front of you to check your own programming. So factor number one is the extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, will suggest that the intern is an employee, and vice versa. So this is why, even though written agreements may not be determinative as we mentioned earlier, they are still so vital. A written agreement should clearly state that the position is unpaid or has a strictly nominal, legally defined stipend within the limits that we discussed earlier. If you promise or imply any kind of pay, they are legally an employee.
Factor the second: the extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions. This means you need a curriculum. There should be actual learning objectives, care manuals, lectures, or guided shadowing. You can’t just hand an intern a rake and walk away. It has to feel like an actual classroom in the field.
So that takes us to factor number three, which is the extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit. If they are receiving credit, or if their professors are involved in reviewing their work at the sanctuary, this is strongly going to support an intern classification versus an employee.
The fourth factor is the extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar. So if an intern has exams, classes, or semesters, your schedule has to adapt to them, not force them to skip school or drop classes to work the barn. The academic schedule has to take priority.
Mckenzee Griffler: So factor number five is the extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning. An internship shouldn’t be open-ended or indefinite. Once the educational value of it has been delivered to the intern, if they keep performing the same daily labor without any new learning, they’ve crossed into employee territory. So, it has to have a clear end date.
Factor six is a really big one, which is the extent to which the intern’s work complements rather than displaces the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern. So, let’s take a pause here. Julia, what does displacement mean when it comes to a sanctuary setting?
Julia Magnus: So, essentially this means you cannot use interns to replace paid staff or to avoid hiring paid staff. So, if you have an open animal care position and instead of hiring somebody, you recruit three unpaid interns to cover those shifts, you are displacing paid labor. The intern’s work must complement your staff’s work, freeing them up for mentorship or special projects while the intern focuses on learning. They should shadow, assist, and learn, and not work as a standalone labor unit.
Mckenzee Griffler: Exactly. And finally, the seventh factor: the extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship was conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship. Again, you can’t dangle a carrot here. No “work hard for free now and maybe we’ll hire you later”. If there’s an expectation of a job, they are most likely an employee under the law.
Julia Magnus: And it’s really worth noting that while the Department of Labor will give some more leniency to nonprofit organizations engaged in humanitarian or charitable objectives, you’re still not immune to labor audits. The Department of Labor has been actively cracking down on employment misclassifications in the nonprofit sector. A misclassification ruling doesn’t just damage your sanctuary’s reputation. Again, it can result in crushing back wages, taxes, fines, and even legal action that could potentially shut your doors. It is always better to be safe and legally compliant. So, now that we’ve addressed all that, why don’t we talk about what happens once the sanctuary has designed a structured, legally sound program? How do you think they should actually find these amazing interns, and what are the best marketing and recruitment channels for an internship program?
Mckenzee Griffler: So, you’ll want to cast a really wide net and first look right in front of you. Promote the internship program on your public tours and at sanctuary events where you already engage with passionate volunteers. Those are people who already love your missionThe stated goals and activities of an organization. An animal sanctuary’s mission is commonly focused on objectives such as animal rescue and public advocacy.. And second, keep a dedicated internship page on your website and make regular posts on social media.
Julia Magnus: Those are really good organic channels. And you should also look at mainstream platforms. You could post on job and internship boards like Indeed. And don’t forget to attend local university job, volunteer, and internship fairs. Especially take a look at schools with animal science, nonprofit management, social work, or vet programs.
Mckenzee Griffler: And lastly, you can always leverage online message boards and regional social media groups dedicated to compassionate animal treatment or veganismA movement and way of living that seeks to eliminate the exploitation of and cruelty to nonhuman animals as much as possible. Often, veganism is defined synonymously with a plant-based diet, although veganism includes abstaining from elements of animal exploitation in non-food instances when possible and practicable as well.. Those spaces are filled with people eager for immersive experience.
Julia Magnus: So, when it comes to managing all these applicants, you also don’t really need expensive software to do it. You can use free online tools like Google Forms, which are perfect for creating and distributing your internship information and application forms, and it’ll help keep your applicant pool organized in a centralized place and allow you to easily update the forms as your program evolves. You can ask, for example, for a cover letter, resume, and references right through a Google Form.
Mckenzee Griffler: Now, again, once you find the perfect candidate, before they touch a single pitchfork or care guide, you must establish transparent, reasonable expectations. And you must do it in writing. This is where a formal, signed written contract is absolutely non-negotiable. You can’t rely on verbal agreements.
Julia Magnus: So, what needs to go into that written agreement, Mckenzee?
Mckenzee Griffler: So, a complete agreement should detail, first, the legal relationship, explicitly stating that they’re not an employee. Second, the exact duration of the internship and whether an extension is possible. Third, a clear educational roadmap—what they’ll do, what they’ll learn, and who’s responsible for supervising and evaluating them. Fourth, any nominal compensation, stipend, or the policy for reimbursing any out-of-pocket expenses. Fifth, whether they are covered under your sanctuary’s insurance policy. And it’s also a good idea to include policies that are going to cover your intern’s behavior. So, the contract should cover general sanctuary policies, a clear code of conduct, privacy expectations regarding sensitive organizational data, and very clear guidelines on whether and how interns can share photos or videos of the animal residents on their personal social media.
Julia Magnus: Absolutely. Getting all of this signed ensures mutual understanding and establishes the consequences if those expectations aren’t met. But there is a crucial internal step, too. You have to train your supervisors. Sanctuary staff members who supervise volunteer interns need to understand that they can’t control a volunteer intern’s schedule or tasks in the same rigid way that they would control a paid employee. If a supervisor attempts to exert total operational control over a volunteer, they are legally acting as an employer, which breaks the volunteer classification.
Mckenzee Griffler: That’s a really important distinction. So for employees, you can direct every minute of their workday. For a volunteer intern, it really has to be more collaborative and educational. You are guiding them. But if you start treating them like staff under strict control, the Department of Labor will notice. So now, let’s consider the actual learning opportunities that an intern can have. Again, they’re not there just to shovel the poop all day. So, when a lot of folks think about a sanctuary internship, they might always picture animal care, which is shoveling poop, feeding residents, and doing health checks. And yes, while animal care is an incredible track where interns can learn respectful, compassionate care of animals, sanctuaries are complex operations, and there are more opportunities than just care. So there are so many more. Julia, do you want to mention some of them?
Julia Magnus: Sure. So there’s education and outreachAn activity or campaign to share information with the public or a specific group. Typically used in reference to an organization’s efforts to share their mission., where an intern can learn tour management. There’s public relations and educational program development. There’s social media, where they could learn videography, photography, persuasive writing, and how to maintain respectful, productive digital dialogue with the public to boost the sanctuary’s visibility.
Mckenzee Griffler: There’s also stuff like facilities and construction. Interns can learn about sanctuary design, building animal-safe housing, threat mitigation, and things like overall land maintenance. And what about fundraising and development?
Julia Magnus: That’s such an important track. A fundraising intern can learn how to write donor appeals, design fundraising strategies, and manage donor relations from your development team. And then there’s also administrative internships focusing on budgeting, long-term planning, and day-to-day operations of running a nonprofit. And let’s not forget volunteer management, where an intern could learn to recruit, train, and coordinate the volunteer pool and compile newsletters. If you’re a smaller sanctuary, you might not have separate departments for all of these things, and that’s totally fine. An intern can rotate through a combination of these roles over their tenure at your sanctuary. But the key is that you should have a structured written plan for them. You cannot just say, “Just show up and help where we need help”. That lacks the educational framework that you need in order to create a legal and rewarding internship.
Mckenzee Griffler: Exactly. And while they’re learning all these amazing skills, we also have to talk about a very real, very heavy side of interning at a sanctuary. For many interns, this is their absolute first time coming face to face with the survivors of factory farming, hobby farming, and other forms of human-animal exploitation. It can be incredibly intense, emotional, and often deeply distressing to see these traumas up close.
Julia Magnus: It really can. Sanctuary operators have to show immense compassion for our interns as they navigate this emotional landscape, often for the first time. We’ve definitely got to look out for signs of compassion fatigueA form of Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder that can affect anyone serving individuals who have experienced or are currently experiencing trauma. and burnoutA physical and emotion reaction to prolonged, unmanaged workplace stress.. We need to check in on their mental health, offer a supportive ear, and provide resources to help them process what they’re experiencing. We can’t just expect them to harden themselves to it and push through it.
Mckenzee Griffler: Absolutely. Compassion fatigue and burnout are very real risks in this line of work. When an intern is exposed to these difficult realities for the first time, they may feel overwhelmed or even guilty for having felt disconnected from these issues in the past. Having structured check-ins where they can talk about their emotional well-being is just as important as checking in on their physical work. So, as we near the home stretch on this subject, let’s talk about how an internship program ends, because the feedback cycle can be where the true growth happens for both the intern and the sanctuary.
Julia Magnus: 100%. You should not wait until the very last day to talk about how things are going. We highly recommend scheduling regular formal interviews, perhaps on a bi-weekly basis. This gives you a structured checkpoint to assess their growth, address any issues, and see if there are any other departmental areas they might want to explore. It keeps communication open and prevents any surprises that might come up at the end.
Mckenzee Griffler: And then when the intern’s tenure concludes, you should always schedule an exit interview. In fact, we suggest that you do a two-part exit interview process to get the most honest, constructive feedback from your interns possible. So, the first interview could be between the intern and their direct supervisor to discuss their performance, their growth, and their achievements. And the second could be with an unrelated staff member or director.
Julia Magnus: I know it sounds like a lot of extra work, but that second interview can be so helpful because it gives the intern a safe space to share unbiased feedback about the program, their supervisor, and the overall sanctuary culture. Sometimes an intern might feel hesitant to share constructive criticism directly with the person who evaluated them. An unrelated staff member can get a much fairer assessment of how the program is going and where it could be improved.
Mckenzee Griffler: Exactly. And it turns the internship into a way that you can ensure mutual growth for both the organization and the intern. And if you’re listening to this thinking, “Okay, this sounds amazing, but where do I even start with drafting these contracts and these structures?” we’ve got good news for you. The Open Sanctuary Project has a completely free, customizable internship agreement template that you can download right now.
Julia Magnus: We sure do, and it’s a really good starting point. Just keep in mind, as with any template, you should carefully review it with your team and have a local legal professional look it over to ensure that it complies with the specific regulations in your state or region because labor laws can vary significantly from one state to another. So, that legal review is essential. And keep in mind, as always, the Open Sanctuary Project isn’t a law firm, and we’re not your legal adviser.
Mckenzee Griffler: I also want to point out that we have resources on different roles at an animal sanctuary and on some of the other points that we touched on in this discussion, including on compassion fatigue and burnout. So, be sure to check out the show notes for that resource list.
Julia Magnus: So, to sum up, Mckenzee, internships can be a great resource for potential learners and sanctuaries, but you do need to do some pretty careful upfront planning and legal due diligence to ensure that your internship program is a safe, legal, and deeply rewarding experience that empowers the next generation of animal advocates while helping your sanctuary thrive.
Mckenzee Griffler: Very well said, Julia. And I’m sure that there are some sanctuaries who are saying, “Wow, this sounds like a lot of work to have an internship program that’s compliant and good for everybody”. And the answer is yes, it is. Much like most things at an animal sanctuary, it’s a lot more complicated once you start learning about it. And that’s okay. You don’t have to start an internship program today, but it can be something that’s on your horizon for the future. Or maybe you’re really excited to get it started. You understand all of the points that we made, and we’re really excited to hear how your internship program goes or is going. And we’re always excited to hear feedback about resources like our internship agreement template, our internship resource, kind of all the other stuff we got going on at Open Sanctuary. And that’s about all we got for today’s riveting episode on internships. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you learned something new from today’s episode and you like our podcast, please consider becoming a friend of the Open Sanctuary Project. Friends are members of our monthly giving program, donating at a level of $10 a month or more. If you join our friends, you’ll get a digital badge to display on your social media and extra updates on all of our work at OSP. You’ll also get my never-ending gratitude—
Julia Magnus: —and mine also, Julia’s, and that’s worth at least $10 a month to me. Become a friend and help support our ongoing creation of free resources to support animal sanctuaries, much like this podcast, which is a free resource that we create to help support animal sanctuaries. Till next time.
