Always wanted to see the internal workings of organizations that make the world a little bit better every day? If you want to get hands-on experience working for a nonprofit organization, now is the time to strike! Personally, as someone who has had about twelve internships or jobs up until this point, I know a thing or two about the internship hunt, especially when it comes to nonprofit organizations. Here are a few tips on how to score a fantastic internship that speaks to you and to your GPA:

Find your passion. The first step is to figure out what specifically you want to do to save the world. If you're reading this blog, chances are you already have a good idea what big problems you want to tackle first. If you have immense experience in one area, try looking into stretching your brain and working in another capacity. For example, I've done several internships focusing on programming and education, but I haven't done an internship that focused on web design and web content, which is what I'm doing now in the YP4 offices. (They're hiring for spring!) All my internships have been somewhat youth-focused, but playing with code all day and learning a lot in the process prevents the internship experience from getting boring for me.

Do your research. A Google search won't cut it. Searching for "HIV/AIDS" and "San Francisco" or "environment" and "Boston" will get you a lot of search results, but won't be specific enough for finding the best nonprofit organizations in the area. Here are two websites that are more specific to the nonprofit world:

Idealist: The ultimate directory of American nonprofits. Slickly designed and frequently updated, Idealist sorts its website into sections most useful to different needs--internships, volunteer opportunities, funding resources, and so on. However, the search function isn't great and you may have to dig through a dozen pages to find a certain nonprofit in large cities.

VolunteerMatch: One of the oldest players in the nonprofits-on-the-web scene, VolunteerMatch will not only help you find a certain nonprofit, but help you find an angle to propose an internship. If they're looking for a volunteer to help with voter registration, you can propose an internship as voter registration coordinator intern. They also have helpful e-alerts you can subscribe to to find new opportunities in the area without having to constantly come back to the site.

Avoid the hype. Just because a nonprofit org may have a slick website or show up repeatedly in search results doesn't mean it will be a great place to intern. I've had frustrating experiences in the past where I couldn't see past my first starry-eyed impressions of a nonprofit org. One year, I interned at an internationally renowned young women's organization where half the staff was fired a few days into my internship, including the woman I was working with. Suffice to say, the internship sucked; had I asked around a bit and paid attention to the signals, I would have avoided walking into a really uncomfortable office environment.

Reach out to your network. If that means Facebook and LinkedIn, by all means, tell your friends what you're looking for, or ask for feedback on orgs you're interested in applying fors. Research shows that it's not the job listings online or in the newspaper that will land you a spot--rather, it's the friend-of-a-friend connections that will get your foot in the door. Paying it forward when other people are looking for job tips will help you in the future too.

Haggle. If you're not sure how you'll fit an internship into your already jammed class schedule, see if your school offers internship classes you can take. Or, find a like-minded professor and pitch the idea of an indepedent study. Talk to your academic advisor and see what kind of workload is required to pull off a two or three-credit indepedent study. I managed to score three independent studies this way doing what I want to do, and I've loved interning on my schedule. And if your favorite nonprofit org doesn't seem to have any internship positions available, email them anyway, tell them a bit about yourself, and how you'd love to intern for them. If you spark their interest, you'll be able create your own internship position and carve a space for yourself doing what you want to do.

Where do you plan on interning next year? Any advice to offer?