Philanthropy Intelligence 2.0: Activating Fundraising from Duke Alumni, Parents & Friends

Description

What if you could use artificial intelligence to connect Duke to philanthropists passionate about supporting financial aid, academic research or medical innovations? Last summer, a Code+ team did exactly that; built an AI system to identify philanthropists with no previous affiliation to Duke (we call them yet-to-be-affiliated) whose giving could have its greatest impact on the University. 

This summer, you’ll take the focus of this work from yet-to-be-affiliated to yet-to-be-activated. Many alumni, parents & friends are generous to causes of special importance to them; we seek to better understand what those causes are and if, through Duke, we can help to advance them. Using machine learning to analyze Duke's alumni and donor database, you'll develop algorithms that go beyond simple keyword matching to find genuine alignment between donor passions and Duke areas of research strength. You'll work directly with Duke's Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the Alumni Engagement & Development team to create and refine a system, test it with real scenarios and explore how natural language processing can uncover hidden connections that humans might miss. This isn't just about raising money; it's about creating authentic partnerships that accelerate student support and research with real-world impact. Perfect for anyone interested in AI, data science, or seeing how technology can strengthen the bonds between universities and the communities they serve.