Crowdfunding: Donors Helping Students and Teachers Achieve

Charles Best started Donors Choose, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2000, in order to connect individuals directly with students and teachers in need of materials and funds to realize certain experiences teachers want their students to have.

DonorsChoose.org is a great way for individuals, groups and businesses to help students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade across the U.S. learn through fun and interactive in-class projects. The way it works is, a public school teacher will post on donorschoose.org the materials and support that is needed for a classroom project. Then, Donors Choose gives you the ability to hand pick which project to help fund. You log onto the website and find the project that inspires you the most. Once you find the project you wish you help, select any amount over $1 or more to give a tax deductible donation to that exact classroom.

After your make a donation, you will receive feedback from the students and teachers on the specific project you funded. All donors get to see photos of the projects in the classroom, a hand written thank you from the teacher and students, and a cost report showing you how each dollar was spent for the project. Donors Choose is free to access for teachers all across the nation. They have helped fund over four hundred forty thousand classroom projects, helped over eleven million students, and raised over $232,100,000 dollars.  This a exciting, revolutionary way to crowdfund projects that most inspire you.

Donors Choose has also teamed up with Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post. If you purchase a copy of her new book, Thrive, before March 25, 2014, and email your receipt to Thrive@randomhouse.com, you will receive a $26 gift card to help fund a project of your choice on donorschoose.org.

Learn more about Donors Choose and how to help students and teachers achieve success and inspire dreams across the nation.

Find out how to earn and redeem a Donors Choose Gift Card.