The Lost Interns of Bear Stearns by Will Schneider

The Bear Stearns/JP Morgan Chase debacle might be devastating for the economy, bad for business, and major trouble for thousands of shareholders, but it looks like the whole situation may offer a tiny morsel of good news for a few New York City nonprofits.

The Harvard Crimson (and the lesser known daily The New York Times) report that due to JP Morgan Chase’s impending merger with Bear Stearns, “dozens” of job and internship offers that Bear Stearns had promised college and MBA students have been withdrawn.

I don’t mean to gloss over that part – it’s an awful situation for the students... but is there a bright spot? The interns whose offers have evaporated are still eligible to receive their full 10 weeks of pay. All they have to do is spend the summer working at one of a select list of nonprofits.

I can't find a story that indicates which nonprofits are on this list, but if anyone knows how to be considered - please share because I imagine a few readers would love to sign up. 10 weeks of free MBA work would sound good to any charity I know of.

Most importantly, will any of these interns end up with a career in the non-profit world? Will someone one day say, “I owe my successful and rewarding career to Bear Stearns making terrible investment decisions.”?

If you know (or are) a former Bear Stearns intern who is taking this option, please let us know! Sounds like our next Meet-a-FLiP!

Thanks to Harvard Business School student (and FLiP co-founder) Jessica Stannard-Friel for the heads up on this story.