Introduction
KDD Cup 2014: Predict funding requests that deserve an A+
DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy to help students in need through school donations. At any time, thousands of teachers in K-12 schools propose projects requesting materials to enhance the education of their students. When a project reaches its funding goal, they ship the materials to the school.
The 2014 KDD Cup asks participants to help DonorsChoose.org identify projects that are exceptionally exciting to the business, at the time of posting. While all projects on the site fulfill some kind of need, certain projects have a quality above and beyond what is typical. By identifying and recommending such projects early, they will improve funding outcomes, better the user experience, and help more students receive the materials they need to learn.
Successful predictions may require a broad range of analytical skills, from natural language processing on the need statements to data mining and classical supervised learning on the descriptive factors around each project.
Acknowledgements
Data and logistical support has been graciously provided by DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose.org is an online charity and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. Public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests, and donors can give any amount to the project that most inspires them.
More information on KDD Cup 2014 can be found at Kaggle.com