DonorsChoose.org is a lifeline for cash-strapped teachers

For elementary students on B, C, or D track, the new school year has already begun—three days later than normal. For middle and high school students, the school year will start August 15—four days later than normal.

These “extra days” of vacation for kids are furlough days for teachers: unpaid days off that amount to roughly a 10 percent pay cut. Yet according to the National School Supply and Equipment Association’s 2010 NSSEA Retail Market Awareness Study, 92 percent of teachers surveyed last year reported continuing to spend a portion of their shrinking salaries on their students.

Teachers surveyed by the NSSEA reported spending on average $398 for "school supplies” and an additional $538 on “instructional materials.” While 57 percent of teachers surveyed said classroom funding from their school district had decreased due to a depressed economy, only about 20 percent indicated they personally spent less money on their students last year.

So who, then, is making up this funding gap?

Teachers.

But there is a silver lining amidst this dreary news: DonorsChoose.org

Created in 2000 by Charles Best, then a Bronx high school social studies teacher, DonorsChoose.org has a straightforward mission: to encourage “citizen philanthropy.”

Here’s how it works:

First, teachers propose a classroom project to be funded. These projects could be materials requests for markers or microscopes or special requests like funding for field trips.

Next, the staff at DonorsChoose.org vet the teachers, review the project, verify costs, and—after approving it—post the project online.

Now comes the citizen philanthropy component. All you, the citizen, have to do is go to the DonorsChoose.org website and shop for projects you want to support. Are you a fan of art or music in the classroom? You’ll find those types of projects. Want to support literacy or special needs students? You’ll find those types of projects, too. Right now, as of this writing, there’s a classroom request for a glockenspiel!

Each week, DonorsChoose.org posts the number of projects funded, students who are helped, and dollars raised. As of this writing, there were 2,887 donors who had contributed to 1,200 projects benefiting 17,088 students.

And those numbers only reflect a one-week period!

Over the past four years my students have received a little over $2,800 in materials from generous donors from across our nation. Some of the donors were friends or family members, some complete strangers.

What have my students received?

Class sets of biographies on Harriet Tubman and George Washington. Wireless microphones for video production work. Digital video and still cameras. Books on filmmaking. An ELMO—which is a 21st-century digital version of the 20th-century opaque projector. Audio versions of U.S. history books.

Several of my colleagues have used DonorsChoose.org to great effect, receiving book shelves, document cameras, art supplies.

Potential donors can search for projects using a variety of filters: high poverty, lowest cost, fewest days left, location, subject, type of resources, age of student, individual teacher or school.

DonorsChoose.org makes it incredibly easy to fully or partially fund a project. Donors can submit online donations, mail in checks, even purchase gift cards to share with others who might want to “shop” for a project to support.

If this blog entry sounds like a plug, it is. And I think I can justify it in the following way:

As long as there are motivated, dedicated and creative teachers working for the best interest of their students, there will always be out of pocket money spent. Last year I spent about $1,400 of my own money on my students—something I did willingly. But with the help of DonorsChoose.org and the “citizen philanthropy” concept, I can do more for my students while I wait for the economy to improve and for our lawmakers to once again make education funding a high priority.