The 2025 Actuarial Hackathon
The Actuarial Hackathon is an initiative where actuaries collaborate to solve real-world challenges faced by participating not-for-profit (NFP) organisations. Over a two-month period, actuaries brainstorm and research various approaches to a problem. Teams then come together and present their findings at the Actuarial Hackathon Showcase.
How to get involved
You can get involved as a volunteer and:
- Help create a better future for the less fortunate
- Make connections with some of Australia’s leading NFP organisations like the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the Royal Flying Doctors Service, the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, and many more
- Network with industry leaders
- Sharpen your leadership and problem-solving skills
Learn more about volunteering here. Please note that volunteering registrations closed on 16 May 2025.
Key program dates 2025
- November 2024 to February 2025 - Invitation to NFPs organisations to participate
- Mid-March 2025 - Volunteer registration commences
- 4 May 2025 - Deadline for NFPs to provide scope and data
- 10 June 2025 - Hackathon commences
- Tuesday 5 August 2025 - Hackathon showcase: Presentations and Q&A Session
Problem solving support
For Not-For-Profits
Actuaries solve business problems, and as part of the Actuarial Hackathon, will volunteer their time to 'hack' a problem faced by the participating not-for-profits.
Make a difference
Register as a volunteer!
Interested in participating in the 2025 Actuarial Hackathon? Registrations closed on 16 May 2025.
Our team
Organising Committee
Each year the Hackathon is steered by a committee of members including actuaries working in a range of fields and Actuaries Institute team members.
Highlights
Catch up on the highlights from previous Actuarial Hackathon Showcases and how the efforts of actuaries have supported not-for-profits achieve impact.
At the heart of this initiative lies the Institute’s commitment to using Data for Good. The Hackathon is a practical example of how actuaries harness their unique skillset to help shape a more sustainable and equitable future.
In 2024 six not-for-profits were involved in the Hackathon including Aspergers Victoria, Camp Quality, RSPCA Australia, Goodstart Early Learning, The Heart Foundation and UNICEF Australia.
The Actuarial Hackathon showcase was 8 August 2024, where teams presented their Hackathon findings. Read more.
The Actuaries Institute Members routinely deliver meaningful results across a wide variety of practice areas. But how can actuaries elevate the impact of some of Australia’s most influential not-for-profits? This burning question was addressed at the 2022 Actuarial Hackathon Showcase, held at the Institute on Wednesday 27 July.
The competing teams went above and beyond in responding to the 13 challenges, drawing on their extensive analytical prowess to complete literature reviews, impact analyses and more.
Some of the problems dissected at the Showcase included:
Understanding Australian cycling activity and opportunities to incentivise cycling over other transport forms.
Assessing the prominence of prostate cancer by region based on data modelling.
Comparing domestic and international climate initiatives.
Forecasting costs and growth opportunities, and in turn improve outcomes for rescued animals.
Reviewing data and trends to provide insights into the importance of school mentoring programs for Indigenous Australians.
Crunching income activity to determine the habits of charity donors.
Some teams drew on familiar data sourcing platforms, such as Tableau, to formulate their solutions. However, other teams were forced to adapt and adjust to effectively apply their skills in the NFP field. This included the team working with the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF), who used AIEF’s data visualisation software, Power BI, to complete their data review and trend analysis.
The 2021 Actuarial Hackathon Showcase was held virtually on Wednesday 21 July and saw seven teams of volunteer actuaries present their solutions to business problems posed by not-for-profit organisations.
Thirty actuaries volunteered their time, tackling seven different problems submitted by charities Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, Luke Priddis Foundation, Children’s Ground, A Start in Life, BATYR and Climate Council.
The seven teams tackled one challenge each, ranging from methods to maximise donor retention to optimizing social media content to boost engagement. The teams were supplied with their charity’s data and applied cutting-edge methods familiar to actuaries to analyze the data. Other challenges were more qualitative in nature e.g. evaluating dfferent models that demonstrate the benefitts of climate action in Australia. The teams presented with great passion and comradery, and the audience also engaged with discussion via the Q&A portal.
The 2020 Actuarial Hackathon Showcase was held on 31 July 2020. There were nine teams involved in 2020 including Cure Brain Cancer, Benevolent Society, Ardoch, Envirojustice, Cancer Council, Prison Fellowship and World Wild Life Fund.
Sam Maitra was an Organising Committee member and MC for the first online version of the Actuarial Hackathon Showcase.
The 2019 Actuarial Hackathon Showcase was held on 28 June 2019.
Over 70 actuaries and charity representatives gathered together for the Hackathon Showcase where each volunteer team presented their findings to support not for profit organisations.
No-For-Profit'sinvolved included Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, BATYR, Cancer Council NSW, Compassion Australia, Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, House With No Steps, Opportunity International Australia, Prison Fellowship Australia, The Stroke Foundation and Youth Opportunities. 69 actuarial volunteers across NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS, SA and ACT worked in teams across a six period to tackle challenges for the NFPs.
The 2018 Actuarial Hackathon Showcase was held on 8 June 2018.
The 2018 Actuarial Hackathon saw 18 teams of actuaries solve practical challenges posed by not-for-profit organisations. From rap skills to wigs, it was an insightful, rewarding and entertaining showcase night!
Disclaimer
The Actuarial Hackathon is powered by the members of Actuaries Institute’s Hackathon Committee and is supported by the Actuaries Institute. Any work or advice provided is not necessarily endorsed by either the Actuaries Institute, its members, directors, officers, employees, agents or that of the employers of members of the Hackathon Committee. The Institute and the employers accept no responsibility, nor liability, for any action taken in respect of advice given and/or work undertaken.
For more information about the 2025 Actuarial Hackathon, please read the Member Participation Guidelines.
