University recruiting is broken. Career fairs are supposed to build the edien demos – five minutes to show what one made, get feedback, and celebrate their work. It’s the cultural heartbeat of our community. Hack Night starts at 8 PM and often ends at dawn – not because anyone’s required to be there, but because they’d rather be nowhere else.

A large group of people gathered around a whiteboard in a makerspace. At the bottom of the image is a purple couch arranged in a half-circle, which many are sitting on.

A long shot of a different section of the same makerspace. Every seat is filled with people working.

This culture of deep work has created an unusually high density of talent. Our members don’t just complete assignments – they build startups, ship ambitious side projects, and work at some of the best companies in the world. Alumni have gone on to Vercel, Figma, Apple, AWS, and Google. Three of our past presidents are now Y Combinator founders, and several members have taken gap years to grow their startups in recent YC batches. This semester alone, we’ve welcomed teams from SpaceX, Kleiner Perkins, and Neuralink — whose co-founder flew in to join a 200-person meet-and-greet.

When ambitious students are given the right environment, they do extraordinary things. They build products that matter, communities that last, and they grow into the kind of engineers people want on their founding teams.

Where You Come In

Purdue Hackers runs on a shoestring budget to support a community that punches far above its weight. This year alone, we’ve distributed thousands of dollars in microgrants and resources to help students ship their ideas – unlocking bigger projects and more ambitious work than ever before.

Your support directly funds the heartbeat of this community: microgrants for ambitious builds, weekly Hack Nights, The Show, and the materials and infrastructure that make all of this possible.

Ways to Support

Most of our supporters contribute between $500 and $5,000 per year. We keep partnerships flexible – no rigid tiers required – but we’ve outlined happy paths below to make things easy.

Partners

$500

One focused Social Boost: Instagram post, Discord announcement, and campus flyers for your recruiting form or program. A fast, lightweight way to get in front of builders.

Small-Group Session

$1,000

Host a 60–90 minute private session with 8–12 handpicked builders (resume review, roundtable, or office hours). Includes goal alignment and curated follow-up with warm intros.

Recommended

Semester Partner

$2,500

Two small-group sessions + one Social Boost + a month-long product spotlight woven into Hack Nights. High-signal engagement with Purdue’s most ambitious builders.

Most of our best partnerships don’t fit neatly into boxes, so please contact us! We'd love to chat about unique ways to work with you. By supporting Purdue Hackers, you’re not just writing a check – you’re embedding your company directly into the most ambitious technical community on campus. Our partners are in the room where great projects are born, meeting builders long before they hit career fairs and standing shoulder to shoulder with the work that defines our culture.

Every dollar goes directly to students. $1,000 funds two or three microgrants – covering hardware, materials, or cloud credits for ambitious builds. $5,000 powers an entire month of Hack Nights, giving dozens of students the time and space to create. Larger contributions let us invest in infrastructure that raises the ceiling for everyone.

Donors are added to our VIP Newsletter and receive quarterly updates on the impact of their support and what cool things Purdue Hackers is building :) We also invite you to join us at our events, where you can meet the students and see the projects firsthand.

For Recruiter Friends

If your goal is to meet and hire exceptional builders, we make it easy. Before you arrive, we’ll align on your goals and the kinds of students you want to meet. When you’re here – at Hack Night, a tech talk, or a private meet and greet – you’re in the space where the work is happening, talking directly to the people building it. Within a week, you’ll receive a curated list of opt-in students and warm intros to the best matches for your team. It’s fast, personal, and far better signal than a cold career fair.

The Show

A group of people huddled around a TV, playing a video game. The room is bright, and the walls are covered with drawings.

Two groups of people are looking at a meter-tall LED sign, which is glowing with colors. The room is dark, but you can see the edge of the bright room.

Every semester ends with The Show, the largest creative-technical demo day in the Midwest. It’s where our members unveil the projects they’ve spent months building: time sculptures, kinetic installations, computational art, custom hardware, and other work that blends engineering with creativity. Hundreds of students, faculty, and industry guests pack the space to see what’s possible when talented people are given time and freedom to build.

For sponsors, The Show is a front-row seat to that energy: your team stands alongside the work itself, your brand woven into the story. Last year’s Show, spill ≋, happened on December 6th in a coffee shop on a winter evening with over 300 people attending. It got featured in the school newspaper, recieved praise from various campus leaders and external partners, and had guests flying in from all over the country. We're currently planning the next Show!

Get in Contact

We’re looking for partners who want to help us keep the momentum going. If you or your company care about real engineering, you’ll find no better place to meet the students who are actually building things :)

phackers@purdue.edu

EIN & W-9 available
Invoicing and receipts supported
Flexible sponsorship structures