Morgan Stanley has announced the winners of its 2025 Montreal Code to Give Hackathon, an event aimed at supporting local nonprofit Shield of Athena. The annual hackathon brings together students and Morgan Stanley technologists to develop technology solutions for nonprofits.
"Code to Give empowers the next generation of technologists to solve challenges for local nonprofits alongside experienced mentors from Morgan Stanley’s innovators," said David Cardon, Co-Head of Morgan Stanley Montreal. “We are fortunate to collaborate with Shield of Athena to deliver these prototypes, and excited for our technologists to work closely with the organization to refine the solutions into finished products.”
This year’s challenge asked teams to design a donation experience that highlights the impact of Shield of Athena's work and encourages ongoing donor support. Nearly 100 university students worked with 35 Morgan Stanley technologists, producing nine prototype applications for evaluation.
The winning project, called Athena Paths, is a multilingual fundraising platform that personalizes donor experiences. It allows donors to follow their contributions through progress updates and outcomes. The team behind Athena Paths includes students from McGill University, Polytechnique Montreal, and the University of Montreal.
Morgan Stanley plans to further develop the winning prototype into a full application for Shield of Athena as part of its Technology Changemakers program. This initiative provides pro bono technical expertise from Morgan Stanley staff to help nonprofits expand their reach.
“The technical solutions pioneered by Code to Give participants have opened many doors that will help us better serve our supporters,” said Melpa Kamateros, Executive Director at Shield of Athena. “Together with Morgan Stanley, we’re driving innovations that strengthen community engagement and lay the foundation for long-term impact.”
The Code to Give program involves more than 660 Morgan Stanley experts mentoring hundreds of student participants each year in five locations worldwide. Since 2021, eight Montreal nonprofits have received support through these hackathons.
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm operating in 42 countries and offering investment banking, securities, wealth management, and investment management services. More information about the company can be found on its website: morganstanley.com.