D-SIP interns have completed 438 major projects across the University since 2007. As we successfully complete our 19th year of programming, please scroll through each presentation to get a glimpse of each intern’s project outcomes. Thank you and Viva La D-SIP!!!!
Kevin Zhang
Economics and Data Science (Class of 2027)
Hails from: Ann Arbor, MI
School of Information
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
For my D-SIP project, I am helping the School of Information develop a LAG pipeline. The goal of this project is to help develop and implement a LAG strategy to strengthen the major gift pipeline, provide more personalized outreach and consistent engagement for LAG-level donors, and foster deeper connections between LAG donors and UMSI through tailored stewardship and communication.
To do this, I first interviewed development professionals both within UofM and from other iSchools such as UMD, UPitt, and UT Austin. Next, I also analyzed donor data pulled from Business Objects to better understand donor trends in age, giving behavior, and alumni degree programs. For example, a majority of our alumni donors majored in Library Sciences back in the 70s. Looking forward, we have to begin marketing our outreach specifically to younger BSI students to eventually fill the mantle.
Project Impact:
From this project, I have helped the development team better understand their donor base, specifically which degree programs are donating the most, finding the average first age of donation is 52 years old, and recurring donors are twice as likely to commit to LAG.
These insights gave me the tools I needed to better curate marketing deliverables to UMSI, culminating in a postcard targeting donors at the $500-$5000 donor range. Additionally, pushing for feedback forms to send to LAG donors intending to better understand their needs and how much they feel valued as a donor.
Skills Learned:
“Stay in the moment”
Kevin Zhang, D-SIP 2025
Kait Bimer
BMA Multidisciplinary Vocal Studies, Jazz Focus (2027)
Hails from: Whitmore Lake, MI
Michigan Public
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
This summer, I worked at Michigan Public under the supervision of Christa Quinn.
As Public Media navigates the challenges of federal defunding, listeners and donors are feeling an even deeper connection to the station and the fact-based journalism that it provides. In these uncertain times, many supporters are seeking more meaningful ways to engage. For these donors, giving circles offer a powerful way to support the station’s mission while also fostering a sense of community and deeper involvement.
Michigan Public entrusted me with creative control to design and present a tiered giving recognition plan, outlining contribution levels and associated benefits for lifetime contributions. I led all aspects of the project, from creation of concept to marketing strategy, pending final approval. Once reviewed and refined, the proposal was vetted by station senior leaders through Michigan Public’s Greenlight Project Approval Process and is currently in the logistical planning phase for implementation.
Project Impact:
This project goes beyond traditional donor recognition. It focuses on experience-based stewardship and building authentic relationships. By refining internal processes and clarifying recognition standards, we’re making the donor experience more meaningful. Supporters feel more connected to the Michigan Public through personalized opportunities that reflect transparency, trust, and shared purpose.
Skills Learned:
“Survival is insufficient”
Kait Bimer, D-SIP 2025
– Station Eleven
Joseph He
Ross BBA (Class of 2028)
Hails from: Midland, MI
School of Kinesiology
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
The University of Michigan School of Kinesiology team is a rapidly growing school with a growing alumni network. As an intern with the School of Kinesiology, I will be working to keep the donor pipeline growing and representative of our current student community. In order to do that, I evaluated our work in student philanthropy, crowdfunding, and engagement strategies with all alumni, particularly younger alumni.
At the School of Kinesiology, I was tasked with assessing and strengthening our approach to alumni engagement and donor cultivation. This involved conducting alumni interviews, analyzing survey data, and scouring our database to identify trends and opportunities. I also benchmarked peer institutions to understand how other universities approach engagement. In response to these insights, I developed a comprehensive engagement plan and created targeted stewardship videos for different alumni segments. Together, these efforts aim to build a more inclusive, sustainable donor pipeline that reflects the diversity and values of our current student body.
Project Impact:
Although the full impact of this work may not be visible immediately, it has already laid a strong foundation for how the School of Kinesiology can engage its online alumni community more intentionally. By conducting alumni interviews, distributing surveys, analyzing our internal database, and researching how other institutions approach online alumni engagement, I uncovered a key opportunity for growth: While the School of Kinesiology values its alumni, there is room to strengthen how we engage and steward graduates in more intentional and lasting ways.
Building a Data-Driven Engagement Pipeline: School of Kinesiology 2
To address this, I created a comprehensive engagement plan tailored to the School of Kinesiology’s needs. As part of this effort, I also produced a series of stewardship videos targeted toward different alumni segments, including first-time donors and former physical education majors. These tools not only demonstrate appreciation but also reflect an inclusive and personalized approach to alumni relations. Together, the plan and videos offer a launch point for the school to build stronger relationships, test what resonates, and evolve its approach in a space where few others have ventured.
Skills Learned:
“You can always be a part of something bigger”
Joseph He, D-SIP 2025
Jesse Chang
Business Administration and Computer Science (Class of 2028)
Hails from: Troy, MI
Dobson Washtenaw Camp Placement
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
Washtenaw Camp Placement (WCP) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that has provided sleepaway summer camp scholarships to economically disadvantaged youth in Washtenaw County since 1962. Research has shown that camp provides significant personal growth for children in areas such as leadership and proactivity, with long-term positive effects like academic performance and future success. Thus, it should not be gatekept behind steep prices for these children.
As an intern at WCP, my role focused on modernizing the organization and streamlining operational efficiency. Up until recently, WCP’s programs and constituents had been manually tracked via paper spreadsheets and donations via letter solicitations. Utilizing key software tools such as our Bloomerang CRM, Qgiv for online donations, Twilio for automatic SMS messaging, Google Ads for website visibility and a planned complete website overhaul, WCP is set up for future success in the realms of communication and supporting donor/camper outreach and engagement.
Project Impact:
The impact of organization-wide modernization could be felt immediately both internally and externally. Internally, time-saving automations such as generated/printed donation acknowledgement letters, online processed donations, as well as emailed solicitations eliminated menial labor and allowed the senior staff to focus more on strategic decisions. Using our CRM database, we could also accurately track constiuents and generate reports to see insights such as revenues and demographic breakdowns.
Externally, the technology allowed for faster, more personalized communication to engage both donors and camper families. Donors could now conveniently donate online, along with receiving personalized acknowledgement emails and letters via automatic mail merges. Camper families now receive timely SMS texts regarding key logistical information without our program director manually sending them. Along with many other small tech integrations, WCP has seen a drastic technological revolution that sets it up for future success in both donor cultivation, engagement and stewardship, but more importantly, positively impacting as many Washtenaw youth as it possibly can. After all, camp matters!
Skills Learned:
“Next year you’ll wish you started today. Let’s get going!”
Jesse Chang, D-SIP 2025
– Jesse Chang
Ethan Oly
B.S Statistics, Minor: QMSS (Class of 2025)
Hails from: Middleville, MI
OUD People and Culture
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
In preparation for its 20th anniversary, D-SIP is preparing to launch its first ever annual giving campaign. My summer project was consulting with leadership to help shape a plan not only for this milestone year but also as a scalable template for future campaigns. In addition, I was responsible for identifying prospective annual donors, including a prioritized list of the top 25-50 lead prospects for stakeholder outreach.
Developing an annual giving plan required collaboration across several teams within the Office of University Development. I had the opportunity to work closely with, and learn from, the Annual Giving, Stewardship, Marketing and Communications, and Finance and administration teams. Together we explored ideas for donation goals, solicitation channels, stewardship, spending plans, campaign timelines, and content development. This work culminated in a comprehensive strategic blueprint designed to encourage ongoing support through regular, recurring donations to D-SIP.
Project Impact:
Creating an annual giving plan for D-SIP has set the stage for lasting impact, starting with this year’s campaign and continuing into the program’s future. Prior to this project, D-SIP didn’t have a formal annual fundraising strategy. Most of its funding came through major gift officers or one-time crowdfunding efforts like Giving Blueday. By establishing a repeatable template, D-SIP leadership is now positioned to address the long-term challenge of creating a self-sustaining internship program.
Through my work, I also applied community-centric fundraising principles to my approach, particularly in prospect identification, to help ensure that donor engagement remains thoughtful and inclusive. While this may be a small step within the broader world of fundraising, my time with D-SIP taught me that meaningful change often begins incrementally, and that progress is made by consistently moving the needle, no matter how small the shift.
Skills Learned:
“Moving the needle of change one tick at a time.”
Ethan Oly, D-SIP 2025
Dru Haney
Organizational Studies (Class of 2026)
Hails from: Rochester Hills, MI
Michigan Medicine Events
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
This past summer, I worked on the Michigan Medicine Events team. My main deliverables were to benchmark on corporate sponsorship regarding benefits per tier purchased, researching programmatic focus at other institutions, and benchmarking stewardship. The research and benchmarking was done across a multitude of large scale nonprofits, and other comparable universities to the University of Michigan. I learned a great deal about the complexities of marketing in sponsorship, and the differentiation of tiers. It was quite interesting to see how programmatic focus influences both the event’s success, and the financial result. My deliverable on stewardship was probably the most enjoyable part of my project, as I had the opportunity to have informational interviews with schools across the country to learn more about what they do, and then pitch recommendations to my team. In summary, this project streamlined the development fundraising event process by guaranteeing that Michigan Medicine is able to measure up against any competing nonprofit or American Medical College.
Project Impact:
As more and more people are able to donate online, most donors spread out their donations to a variety of places. This means that institutions like Michigan Medicine need to keep up on event trends to guarantee that donors are satisfied, and want to make another gift. This research allows
Michigan Medicine moving forward to adjust their sponsorship, programs, and stewardship practices in alignment with other nonprofit organizations and universities. My research provided actionable recommendations that will keep Michigan Medicine’s practices inclusive and successful.
Skills Learned:
“Your worth is not in what you are accomplishing, but in who you are becoming!”
Dru Haney, D-SIP 2025
Bolu Kolawole
Software Engineering (Class of 2025)
U-M Dearborn Institutional Advancement
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
Over the course of my D-SIP internship, I led the development of a centralized funding priorities tool for the Institutional Advancement office at UM-Dearborn. The tool was designed in Google Sheets to serve as a living document that captures current and potential funding opportunities across all colleges and units.
The primary goal of the project was to improve the way gift officers access and filter funding data, enabling them to engage in informed discussions with potential donors. This involved gathering and organizing data from multiple campus sources, creating clear dropdowns and categories for easy filtering, writing donor intent statements and designing a contribution form for regular updates to maintain the database’s accuracy and relevance. I also created an instruction manual to ensure the tool remains useful and user-friendly well beyond the internship period.
Project Impact:
The impact of this project is both immediate and long-term. In the short term, the centralized tool makes it significantly easier for gift officers to access consistent, up-to-date funding information across the university. It also improves how donor intent is matched with university priorities by presenting opportunities in a clear, searchable, and categorized way.
Long-term, this resource can serve as a foundation for more strategic fundraising. It can be expanded on by integrating analytics, tracking trends over time and incorporating submissions directly from faculty and staff. Additionally, it reinforces the value of internal tools in development. By simplifying access to information, the tool supports more intentional and effective donor engagement strategies.
Skills Learned:
“It always seems impossible until it’s done”
Bolu Kolawole, D-SIP 2025
– Nelson Mandela
Julia Zhang
Mathematics and Data Science (Class of 2026)
LSA Business Intelligence
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
This summer, I had the privilege of interning with the LSA Advancement team as part of the Advancement Business Solutions unit. During my 12-week internship, I led the development of a comprehensive Donor Intent Data Dictionary designed to improve the clarity, accuracy, and usability of donor gift tagging across the organization.
Starting with over 50 donor-intent attributes stored in DART, I worked to transform internal documentation into a structured, standardized reference. I defined key terms, mapped relationships across attribute categories, and created real-world examples to support consistent application. To streamline navigation and search, I designed a multi-tabbed Tableau dashboard with keyword filters, dropdown menus, and category-level lookup dialogs.
Midway through the project, I independently researched and implemented a natural language processing (NLP) matching tool, allowing users to paste full donor contract text and receive suggested attribute matches. This innovation significantly reduced guesswork for users unfamiliar with internal terminology and bridged the gap between unstructured input and standardized data.
My final product includes three core components: a homepage with overview and instructions, category-specific sub-dashboards with dynamic lookups, and an embedded NLP interface to support real-time contract analysis. Designed with scalability and user feedback in mind, this resource has already been adopted by analysts and is positioned to support future training, stewardship, and data governance efforts across LSA.
Project Impact:
The Donor Intent Data Dictionary is expected to significantly improve stewardship workflows at LSA Advancement. By centralizing over 50 donor-intent attributes into a clean, searchable Tableau interface—with keyword filtering, clear definitions, and real-world examples—it aims to reduce ambiguity, improve consistency, and support data-driven decision-making across departments.
The addition of a natural language processing (NLP)–powered attribute suggestion tool is designed to eliminate guesswork for users unfamiliar with internal terminology. By allowing users to paste full donor contract language and receive recommended matches, the tool will make intent tagging more accessible, especially for new staff or non-technical users.
Though formal feedback is forthcoming, the tool is anticipated to reduce lookup time, increase tagging accuracy, and improve user confidence. Analysts have expressed early interest in expanding the framework to other tagging systems, indicating its potential scalability.
In the long term, this project lays the foundation for stronger data governance and more transparent reporting. It aligns donor intent with internal usage more effectively and supports consistent stewardship. Designed for scalability and ease of use, the tool will also serve as a training and onboarding resource for future team members—ensuring that donor gifts are honored with clarity, consistency, and care.
Skills Learned:
“Real impact happens when data meets purpose- and when we dare to build for people, not just systems.”
Julia Zhang, D-SIP 2025
Tina Chen
Psychology (Class of 2026)
Hails From: West Hartford, CT
Dobson Ann Arbor Art Center
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
Throughout the summer, I supported the Ann Arbor Art Center’s fundraising team by conducting benchmarking research and helping lay the foundation for a shift in their long-term fundraising strategy. I collected data on donor engagement strategies, event formats, venue partnerships, and sponsorship models from over ten Michigan-based arts nonprofits. I also organized feedback from A2AC’s scholarship participants to support inclusive program development. In addition, I assisted with early planning efforts for their upcoming fall gala, offering ideas informed by my research. These contributions helped the team identify areas of growth and inspiration as they prepare to expand and evolve their fundraising approach.
Project Impact:
While the work I did was behind the scenes, it contributed to a clearer, data-informed view of the current fundraising landscape in Michigan’s arts sector. My research gave A2AC a range of real-world strategies they could adapt, including how to better engage donors. By helping to compile information into actionable strategy, I’ve helped A2AC take steps toward a more intentional, sustainable, and inclusive approach to development.
Skills Learned:
“ Fundraising is not just about money– it’s about values.”
Tina Chen, D-SIP 2025
– Tina Chen
Sydney Shimabukuro
Sociology (Class of 2026)
Hails From: Mountain View, CA
UM Alumni Association
Project Showcase:
Project Description:
I had the opportunity to intern at the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan this summer, where I worked on multiple projects centered around alumni engagement efforts. The primary projects I worked on were creating criteria for new alumni awards and helping expand the notable alumni initiative. I was also involved in data projects and provided administrative support, which further enhanced my proficiency in digital platforms and offered me insights into the organization’s operational systems. For both of the alumni engagement projects, I benchmarked research from institutions within U-M along with other prominent U.S universities. Once I researched others’ criteria, I considered my notes on what I thought made apt and strong criteria, the input from club leaders, and the Alumni Association’s core values to offer suggestions for potential criteria language. After benchmarking for the notable alumni project and learning more about how other institutions recognize their alumni, I drew from many online resources to compile a more comprehensive list of distinguished alumni that acknowledges the accomplishments of high-achieving individuals across a wide range of fields.
Project Impact:
The main mission of U-M’s Alumni Association is to foster a community of belonging, so the objectives of the projects I contributed to worked to support that goal. Benchmarking research and integrating input from constituent groups allowed me to offer recommendations for award criteria, which will ultimately help the University recognize and show appreciation for more of its high-achieving and engaged alumni. By helping to launch these new awards, the Alumni Association will be able to establish more platforms to recognize alumni who have made great contributions in leadership, service, philanthropy, career, and other notable capacities. The project works to acknowledge individual excellence while also promoting engagement, fostering U-M pride, and encouraging a culture of giving back. The notable alumni initiative can significantly strengthen Michigan’s community by celebrating the achievements of previous students and inspiring current ones to continue striving to make positive impacts in the world. Engaging in efforts that show how much the University values their alumni and the work they do, will help reinforce and bolster a strong continued relationship between the alumni and the University of Michigan.
Skills Learned:
““Go Blue!”
Sydney Shimabukuro, D-SIP 2025
– Darren Criss ’09 (in his 2018 Emmy acceptance speech)
Welcome to D-SIP 2026-Project Showcase