Nikola IlovskiMy primary responsibilities at IWP centered on Institutional Advancement, where I supported the organization’s donor engagement and development operations. This included tasks such as researching prospective donors, maintaining and updating donor records, preparing outreach materials, and supporting the administrative side of fundraising efforts. While this type of work is often behind the scenes, I came to appreciate how essential it is to sustaining an educational mission and the institutional infrastructure that makes the intellectual work possible.
One of the things I valued most about my time at IWP was the working environment itself. The office had a low-pressure atmosphere that made it easy to take initiative, ask questions, and engage genuinely with the people around me. Staff and leadership were approachable, and I never felt like an outsider. That kind of culture is not something I took for granted, and it made showing up each day something I looked forward to.
Beyond my advancement work, I was fortunate to participate in activities that extended into IWP’s research and educational programming. Contributing to the weekly policy and intelligence briefings exposed me to how current events are analyzed and communicated in a professional policy context. I also had the opportunity to participate in war game exercises, which offered a genuinely different way of thinking through strategic problems.
Nikola Ilovski
Arizona State University, Class of 2026
Advancement Intern