One of the most rewarding parts of leading Giving Connection has been our partnership with Stanford University's Cardinal Quarter Program through the Haas Center for Public Service. Since 2023, Stanford students have spent their summers working alongside our team on projects that have become part of Giving Connection. They are not completing practice assignments or hypothetical case studies. They are interviewing users, identifying problems worth solving, writing production code, testing new ideas, and helping shape the future of the platform.

For a small nonprofit, this partnership has been transformative. It has allowed us to tackle ambitious projects that might otherwise take years to complete, while giving students the opportunity to see what it looks like to build technology around real community needs.

Every fellow spends the summer leading a project from discovery through implementation.

That means talking with nonprofit leaders and community members, conducting user research, exploring different solutions, building prototypes, and working closely with our team to turn ideas into features that will live on the platform long after the fellowship ends.

This summer, the fellows are also collaborating on one of the biggest projects on our roadmap: our Smart Match Engine.

Instead of asking people to search through hundreds of nonprofit profiles, Smart Match will guide users through a short series of questions before recommending organizations that best match what they're looking for. Whether someone needs help, wants to volunteer, or hopes to give back, the experience is designed to make finding the right nonprofit feel simpler and less overwhelming.

Hazel is leading our AI assisted search initiative. Their work explores how people naturally search for help and how artificial intelligence can make those searches faster, more accurate, and easier to understand. Throughout the summer, Hazel is interviewing users, analyzing search behavior, and designing an experience that helps people find trusted nonprofits without needing to know the exact words to search.

Alyssa is focused on one question: how do you make a nonprofit directory feel more human? Her project explores how stories, testimonials, and community voices can help people feel more connected to the organizations they discover. Through user interviews and design research, she is helping us rethink how Giving Connection introduces nonprofits to the people they serve.

Aria is leading our Businesses for Good initiative while also expanding multilingual capabilities across the platform. Her work is helping us create new ways for people to discover businesses that give back to their communities while making Giving Connection more accessible to people who speak different languages.

One of the things that makes Cardinal Quarter unique is that students are trusted with real ownership.

Throughout the summer they present their work to nonprofit leaders, gather feedback from community members, collaborate across disciplines, and solve problems that do not have textbook answers. By the end of the fellowship, each student has built something that people will actually use.

Those experiences are valuable for the students, but they also make Giving Connection stronger. Every fellow leaves behind ideas, features, and research that continue shaping the platform long after the summer ends.

Since our partnership began in 2023, Cardinal Quarter Fellows have contributed to projects across artificial intelligence, accessibility, user experience, product strategy, and platform development. Their work has helped shape Giving Connection into a more inclusive, intuitive, and impactful platform for nonprofits and the communities they serve.

We're incredibly grateful to the Haas Center for Public Service for making this partnership possible and to every fellow who has chosen to spend their summer using technology to strengthen communities. We're excited to continue growing this partnership in the years ahead and can't wait to share what this year's fellows build.

If you're a Stanford student interested in using your technical skills for social impact, we hope you'll consider applying to join Giving Connection through the Cardinal Quarter Program in the future.