Published: July 11, 2004
by: Holly St. Lifer
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Students working on a DonorsChoose-funded computer project. |
Best decided to do something about it. Two years ago, with the help of four high school friends and using his own money, Best created DonorsChoose, a non-profit website where potential givers peruse individual teachers’ proposals and pick a project to fund, either entirely or in part. “I knew on one side there were teachers desperate for resources. At the same time there are a lot of financial donors who are becoming skeptical about exactly where their dollars are going. So I thought to pair these two groups,” says Best. (The 28-year-old Phi Beta Kappa from Yale says he decided in high school that he wanted to be a teacher in an underserved community, and describes the profession as “the most challenging, fun and helpful thing a person could do.”)
What Teachers Want
Teachers are invited to propose projects, no matter what the cost. “At first we wondered, would they come up with imaginative, innovative ideas to help kids learn or would they just ask for basic supplies? We found that it’s mostly the former,” says Best. “DonorsChoose is where teachers with untapped creative potential can go and get what they need to enhance their students’ learning experience.”
To see how creative teachers can be in coming up with fundable projects, log on to the site and peruse the proposals. One project is titled, “Birthday in the Bronx.” Catherine Martin, a first grade teacher in one of “the poorest neighborhoods in the city,” wants a popcorn machine that would be shared among the teachers of the 500 Pre-K to first-graders in her school. It would be used for birthday parties and to raise funds for class trips.
“All of the children come from families who don’t have the money to even get these kids a cupcake for their birthday,” says Martin. “And very few have ever left this neighborhood. These children need to see there’s a world of possibilities beyond their block.” This grant would offer her students the opportunity to be exposed to some of New York City’s cultural offerings. The project cost is $2,001 and at the time of this writing is 21 percent funded. (The proposal is available online here [1])
Since February 2003, Cynthia Rosado, a first-grade teacher at PS 169 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, has submitted 43 grants to Donors Choose and 38 have been funded. Rosado’s students are all English language learners; there are 11 different first languages spoken in her classroom. 90 percent of the children in the school live below poverty level.
For one funded proposal, Rosado wrote: My children desperately need to hear English modeled for them as often as possible. For many there is no one at home who can read in English. I would like the Rigby PM storybook software for my beginning readers. This software would read along with children who cannot read alone yet. Eventually my students will read independently but in the mean time a little extra help would be greatly appreciated. She has also requested – and received -- a book binder and a laminating machine. Twelve of her grants were for books.
Rosado says DonorsChoose has dramatically improved the quality of education in her classroom. “The level and caliber of my students’ work grows with each new acquisition. Once their books were bound with our new binder, they wanted to write more, the books got longer and we started to make covers. When the covers started to get so beautiful, I wrote the proposal for the laminating machine. The more you give children to work with, the more you get out of them.”
Another positive effect is what helps the teacher, helps the child. “After 18 years of teaching in the inner city, I'm no longer wasting countless hours going to stores and tracking down materials, Xeroxing excerpts of books for a new student or handwriting chapters into simplified texts because we didn’t have books at the right reading level for individual children,” says Rosado.
How It Works
Before accepting a proposal, DonorsChoose staff review it, verify the teacher's identity, confirm the existence of requested materials and attach a cost. When a proposal is funded, DonorsChoose purchases the materials and has them delivered to the teacher's school. “The money doesn't go directly to the teachers for two reasons,” explains Best, who continues to teach full time. “It lets us guarantee the integrity of the project, and by doing the purchasing we're able to negotiate better discounts so the donors get more bang for their buck.”
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Happy with their new books from a “citizen philanthropist.” |
A staffer also mails each teacher a disposable camera and stamped envelope in which to enclose photographs of the project, student thank-you notes, and a teacher letter. Upon receiving this feedback, DonorsChoose attaches receipts and forwards this package to the donor. Wrote one of Rosado’s students to the individual who paid for the laminating machine: Now my book won’t rip or break. Now it will last forever. I can read it when I’m old.
The donors, or “citizen philanthropists,” as Best calls them, come from 49 states and have funded 4,000 teacher proposals funneling $1.5 million dollars worth of resources and experiences to students. Best’s ultimate goal is to serve all public school systems in the country, particularly those in low-income areas. So far, there is a DonorsChoose covering North Carolina and plans are in the works in Colorado, Chicago and California’s Bay area. Teachers in Washington State, Los Angeles and Cincinnati are also starting their own versions of DonorsChoose.org.
Rosado credits DonorsChoose’s success to Best’s process. “It’s so respectful to everyone involved. It asks the donor, where exactly would you like your money to go? Do you like art, math? Younger children, high school kids? The exchange of thank you’s at the end makes everyone feel good. No one gets slighted on either end, ever.” Renee Miller, who recently funded an art project, agrees. “It’s so satisfying to know my donation is going directly to help specific children rather than getting lost in the big machine of a huge charity. The day I contributed, I got a note from the teacher. That personal connection made me feel like I was really helping.” Wrote one fourth grader to a couple who donated funds for dictionaries: I appreciate how you think about people. Also how you didn’t think about yourself. I will always remember the nice people who gave us new dictionaries.
Resource:
www.donorschoose.org [2]
Holly St. Lifer writes about health, fitness, parenting, human interest and entertainment for magazines and websites including Fitness, Oxygen, Parents, Biography and Lifetime Online. She is a frequent contributor to Connect for Kids.
http://www.connectforkids.org/node/593
Links:
[1] http://www.donorschoose.org/donors.php?action=view_proposal&id=5256
[2] http://www.donorschoose.org