We democratize evidence-based, impact-oriented philanthropy.
The philanthropic landscape is at a critical turning point, with a value-centric and impact-minded generation—Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X— standing to inherit an estimated $72.6 trillion from the "Great Wealth Transfer" 1.
However, donors today face a considerable challenge: despite the $500 billion channeled into charities each year 2, the overwhelming presence of over 1.3 million organizations 2 competing for attention renders the task of identifying those that truly align with their values and deliver real impact as daunting as finding a needle in a haystack.
Impact Aligner is an AI-powered platform that extracts and interprets complex data from charity filings. This innovative approach transforms cumbersome and expensive research into a seamless experience, empowering donors to effortlessly discover and contribute to organizations that genuinely contribute to impact goals they care most about.
Anticipating text-based Form 990s and API access, we faced an unexpected hurdle: the ProPublica API provided limited data without the narrative details we needed. To circumvent this, we sourced over 2,000 Form 990s directly from the IRS. However, these forms were image scans—not readily analyzable text. Undeterred, we employed LangChain's Intelligent Document Processing to adeptly extract the critical text, ensuring we could access the in-depth data necessary for our analysis.
In future iterations, we can enhance our AI platform to track and analyze charity filings over time, spotlighting performance and spotting irregularities. Our expanded metrics will include financial details like compensation and grants, offering donors a transparent view of a charity's genuine impact. This next step isn't just an upgrade—it's a leap towards a transparent, accountable philanthropy sector, aligning with the values of a new generation of donors.
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