Thursday September 13, 2007, 3:11 pm

DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

Proposals range from "Magical Math Centers" ($200) to "Big Book Bonanza" ($320), to "Cooking Across the Curriculum" ($1,100). Any individual can search such proposals by areas of interest, learn about classroom needs, and choose to fund the project(s) they find most compelling. In completing a project, donors receive a feedback package of student photos and thank-you notes, and a teacher impact letter.

Fulfilling Student Projects
Sustaining Operations
Spreading the Word
Teaching Students Philanthropy

Fulfilling Student Projects

DonorsChoose.org performs a good deal of work to ensure the integrity of its philanthropic marketplace. Here's how it works:

1. Public school teachers create student project proposals at DonorsChoose.org. This consists of writing a one page essay and listing the exact resource(s) needed.
2. DonorsChoose.org volunteers screen each project proposal before posting to the website. Volunteers verify that the teacher and project meet our eligibility requirements, emailing follow-up questions to the teacher if anything is unclear.
3. Concerned individuals fund the student projects of their choice—in whole or in part—and are emailed immediate email gift acknowledgments from DonorsChoose.org which can be used for tax deduction purposes.
4. DonorsChoose.org emails the school principal, alerting him/her to the funded project.
5. Within the next week, DonorsChoose.org forwards the donor an "e-thank-you" from the teacher, which notes the date by which the donor can expect his/her full feedback package.
6. DonorsChoose.org purchases the student materials and ships items directly to the school along with a disposable camera, guidelines for preparing feedback packages, and a stamped envelope in which to enclose the feedback.
7. Students experience the project that the donor made possible! The teacher photographs the students participating in the project and writes an impact letter to the donor. Students write their own thank-you notes. This feedback is then mailed to DonorsChoose.org headquarters.
8. DonorsChoose.org develops the photos, and compiles the letter and thank-you notes. This feedback is mailed to the donor(s) who completed the project or made a partial contribution of $100 or more.

DonorsChoose.org works equally hard to strengthen the framework which enables citizen philanthropists to connect with classrooms in need. In order to ensure a secure, efficient, and effective exchange, we:

* Negotiate discounts and partnerships with vendors to get the best prices available.
* Continually upgrade our web technology to make DonorsChoose.org more user-friendly and effective for donors and teachers.
* Acquire and update databases of all the public schools in the regions we serve. We track everything from the principal's name to the number of students who receive free or reduced price lunch (a measure of poverty) to ensure the information we provide donors is accurate.
* Create community awareness about DonorsChoose.org to increase funding of student projects.

Sustaining Operations

The price of a student project includes an optional fulfillment fee covering the work performed by DonorsChoose.org (see Fulfilling Student Projects). After clicking to fund a project, the donor may decide not to include this fulfillment fee. By choosing to include it, donors support the necessary resources—staff time, office space, and technology—to bring their chosen projects to life.

While the cost of fulfilling student projects remains the same, DonorsChoose.org offers a "scholarship" to higher need schools by discounting the fulfillment fee. Depending on the school's poverty level, fulfillment is assessed at 15%, 20%, or 25% of the project's cost. The vast majority of schools using DonorsChoose.org have high rates of poverty, so most proposals carry the 15% fulfillment fee.

Donors' inclusion of the fulfillment fee is essential to the existence and success of DonorsChoose.org. Thankfully, 90% of our contributors choose to include it, and income thus earned allows us to continue our work.

As more student projects are funded and donors continue to include the fulfillment fee, DonorsChoose.org becomes increasingly self-sustaining. However, during this early stage in our growth, we also depend on grants and contributions to support our operation.

Spreading the Word

The most powerful motivator of new donors is you. By sharing DonorsChoose.org with friends, family, and colleagues, you can help bring resources to students in struggling classrooms. Ways to involve one's personal community include:

Funding a project in someone's honor. Here, the donor can recognize someone special by funding a project in his/her honor. The donor gets the tax deduction and the honoree is acknowledged by the classroom.

Giving a Gift Certificate. A DonorsChoose.org gift certificate allows the giver to get the tax deduction and enables the recipient to fund student project(s) of his/her choice—and to receive the classroom acknowledgment. Parents often use this tool to introduce their children to philanthropy. Click here to give a Gift Certificate.

Opening a Gift Registry. Whether getting married or running the marathon, DonorsChoose.org supporters can use special occasions to help students learn. The gift registry feature enables anyone to select his/her favorite projects and to share that list with family and friends via our email engine. The registrant is acknowledged by the classroom, while the tax deduction goes to those who donate to projects on the gift registry. Click here to open a gift registry.

Learn about more ways to help spread the word about DonorsChoose.org.

Teaching Students Philanthropy

From Lincoln, Nebraska, to the Bronx, New York, groups of young people have pooled donations and collectively chosen projects to fund at DonorsChoose.org. For example, a group of 1st graders in Brooklyn held a bake sale and used the proceeds to fund "Big Floor Puzzles" for a classroom in North Carolina.

The generosity of these young people prompted DonorsChoose.org to develop a student grant-making program. When large contributors want DonorsChoose.org to allocate their gifts, we often turn to students from the schools we serve. With directions from the funder, these student grant-makers read through all the proposals to decide which projects will most benefit their peers. The funder is invited to meet the student grant-makers who were entrusted with the contribution, and the students explain their rationale for selecting particular projects.

Student grant-making not only delivers valuable resources to schools in need, but also provides important lessons in philanthropy, decision-making, and community to the students involved. If you are interested in sponsoring a student grant-making program, please contact reyna@donorschoose.org

More questions? Please see our Frequently Asked Questions in the Help section.