DonorsChoose.org Is A Teacher's Best Friend

If you're like me, you're always looking for ways to fund exciting new lessons for your students, buy basic supplies for the classroom, or fund your own professional development.

Since 2014, I have raised over $10,000 for a variety of projects using DonorsChoose.org. Some failed to reach the finish line but over all I've had ten projects for my classrooms and five projects for professional development funded.

This back to school season (August 2019), DonorsChoose.org is giving you another reason to stop procrastinating. From August 18th until August 25th, any new teacher that creates an account AND posts their first project will get a $50 donation. I'm personally going to add to that. If you use my ambassador referral link (http://share.donorschoose.org/lThFC) to sign up, I'll give you back your referral credit towards your project.


So how do you get started? Here's the process broken down into seven steps. If you need help, reach out to me via email or Twitter. I'm here to help because when you succeed, your students succeed.

1. Sign-up and fill in your profile. You'll need to select your school.
• Donors can search by general location, school, or teacher.
• All funded projects are required to be shipped to schools for accountability.
2. Check for promotions.
• There are constantly promotions being offered by a variety of charitable organizations. Always start here because you never know if there are special words that will help you raise funds faster. 
• Example: If you're buying a 3D printer for a Makerspace, there might be a promotion for STEM but you're required to select "Applied Science" as your category instead of "General Science" or "Art". Same project but a different classification can make all the difference.
3. Go Shopping.
• No seriously, go shopping. Select one of the approved vendors and add items to your cart. When you "check out" it'll bring you back to DonorsChoose.org
• Try to keep your request under $500 for the first time. There is a $100 minimum so keep that in mind.
• Need something special that you can't find through a vendor, you can make a special request.
• If you're planning a trip, guest speaker, etc. you can upload price quotes.
4. Write your rationale.
• Be honest. How will the requested items help your students and the classroom. Be sure to check your spelling and grammar. Once it's posted, you can't edit the request.
5. Promote.
• Post on social media
• Include a link in your class newsletter
6. Watch the funds come in.
• You may need to continue promoting your project a few times.
• Remember to thank each donor. You can reply to the "you received a donation" email to make it easy.
7. Receive your project and make sure to follow-up.
• This last step is just as important as the rest. After you receive your project, make sure you follow the steps to close it out.
• Post pictures so they know it reached the students (block student faces or take the back of heads)
• Send student thank you letters if required (I make it extra credit)
• Write an impact statement.

If you need help, send me an email or look me up on Twitter. Good luck!