Project 990

The immense data on the nonprofit sector represent untapped potential for increasing the effectiveness of grantmaking and the efficiency of grantseeking. Thank you to these students who are using data science technology to unleash this potential.

Community organizations could be a key to combatting social isolation according to Associate Professor Brad R. Fulton. “Community organizations, because there is such a variety that can really appeal to people’s diverse interests and needs, can play a critical role in helping people get connected,” Fulton said during an appearance on O’Neill Speaks, the official podcast of the O’Neill School. https://go.iu.edu/8rBy

Project 990’s research on philanthropy deserts just got a substantial boost by being awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and its Civic Innovation program. The research includes data on the $100B and 2.5M grants distributed by foundations each year and several community outcome measures related to health, education, employment, etc. The Philanthropy Deserts project will focus on identifying and addressing mismatches between charitable giving and community need. If you’re a program officer or foundation consultant who wants to learn about identifying communities with the greatest needs and redirecting philanthropic funding to nonprofits in those communities, let me know. To carry out this research, I am partnering with Caitlin S. at Trust for Civic Life, Kevin Miller at Independent Sector, and Devin Murphy at The Bridgespan Group. A special thanks to Indiana University Research and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy who provided seed funding for this project. Also, a shout out to the following Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering students and alumni who have helped develop many of the philanthropy dessert visualizations --?Sai Teja Burla, Thomas Jablenski, Shivani Latkar, Jeet Patel, Sahithi Vangala, Avishmita Mandal, Sravya Arutla, and Vedika Halwasiya https://lnkd.in/g6EjKTvV

Matthew Baggetta, Julie Maloney-Beasley, and I were awarded a $904,265 research grant from AmeriCorps to expand our Observing Civic Engagement Project. Through this project we’re using the Systematic Social Observation method to collect data on the internal dynamics and activities of community organizations. We currently have 31 research assistants that we’ve trained and who are helping us collect observational data from 25 nonprofits in Bloomington. Our leadership team includes Project Administrator Claire Woodward and PhD student Ashlea Raemer. This project has been a great opportunity to involve students in high impact learning experiences, connect with the broader Bloomington community, and publish award-winning research. A special thanks to Indiana University Research who provided seed funding for this project in 2020. Thanks! We are also beginning to implement this project in other settings. If you’re interested in collecting and analyzing data on the internal dynamics and activities of organizations such as grantees, student groups, congregations, or community partners, send me an email.

Here's a link to the Philanthropy Desert slide deck: https://lnkd.in/gh8_iEit

Check out some of our most recent visualizations here: https://lnkd.in/gfehE4eE

We are excited to announce that Shivani Latkar(She/Her) will be joining Project 990 as a summer intern. Shivani was selected to participate in this project by IU's Vice Provost for Research via a competitive process through their Faculty Assistance in Data Science program. https://lnkd.in/gmPqp8SY ? It's a highly selective program and a well-earned achievement for Shivani. Indiana University Research Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

We are excited to announce that Vedika Halwasiya will be joining Project 990 as a summer intern. Vedika was selected to participate in this project by IU's Vice Provost for Research via a competitive process through their Faculty Assistance in Data Science program. https://lnkd.in/gmPqp8SY ? It's a highly selective program and a well-earned achievement for Vedika. Indiana University Research Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

We are excited to announce that Sahithi Vangala will be joining Project 990 as a summer intern. Sahithi was selected to participate in this project by IU's Vice Provost for Research via a competitive process through their Faculty Assistance in Data Science program. https://lnkd.in/gmPqp8SY ? It's a highly selective program and a well-earned achievement for Sahithi. Indiana University Research Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

Whether you've only heard of Large Language Models (LLMs) in passing or you're a data scientist trying to explain LLMs to your supervisors, this LLM Cheat Sheet is a great resource. At Project 990, our top-tier data scientists (including Devna Ramesh, Varun Sreedhar, Pavan Anvesh, Diksha Adke, and others) are using LLMs daily to transform unstructured text data on millions of foundations and grantees to classify these entities and generate customized recommender models for foundation directors and nonprofit executives. Beyond being computationally fascinating, LLMs are transforming what's possible with data, and they can help you do your job more effectively and efficiently. https://lnkd.in/gjTgjCMN