Happy Sunday my friends! I hope you have had a fun and relaxing weekend so far!
On any given day, my inbox is filled with emails from various companies wedding related and completely NOT that want me to talk about their product or service on my blog. Since I have a charitable aspect, I also get emails from non-profits and anything that can be remotely related to charity. To be honest the majority of them never see the light of day as I have to truly feel passionate about something in order to share it with you. I also want it to make sense… No, I do not think your downloadable cookbook really makes sense for my blog, sorry or your back to school specials. But when it comes to charity, I scrutinize them even more because if I am going to suggest that you give your hard earned cash to something, I want to be sure that I would be willing to do the same. Long story short, when I received an email a few weeks ago from a lady named Anna about the organization DonorsChoose.org, I was not immediately excited about it. I didn’t really have that much time to head to the website at the time I read the email so I really didn’t know what it was all about. Then Anna offered to send me a gift card that could be used on their site so that I could really get a feel for how it all worked. Clearly the rest is history because here we are talking about it. So what is Donors Choose.org?
It is no secret that the education system in this country is struggling. Teachers are underpaid, classrooms are underfunded, and children become the victims of a broken system. Teachers are actually spending an average of $40 per month of their own money to buy necessary supplies for their classrooms. That is where DonorsChoose.org comes in. Teachers from around the country post projects or needs for their classroom, donors come in and pick which project is meaningful to them, the teacher no longer has to worry about providing equipment, and children LEARN. Projects can be anything from asking for necessary equipment like projectors to helping to fund the music program or buy supplies for elective type classes.
The organization was founded in 2000 by a group of teachers who were fed up with educational inequality and wanted to get the public engaged to help with the problem. To date they have raised over 85 million dollars and helped over 5 million students. Imagine the impact that those 5 million children are making now. You can check out the rest of their impact and other data here.
Anyway… back to my gift card, which is more appropriately referred to as a Giving Card. Earlier this week I decided to see what this gift card was all about, so I started reading. I selected classroom projects in Arizona and hundreds popped up. I started reading through them. One wanted an iPod so kids could dance during PE class, another digital cameras for art class, another a microscope… the needs went on and on. The submissions are sent in by teachers that want to give their students more, that want to enrich their students education beyond just the basic subjects, it truly was amazing. The difficult part was deciding which one to fund. I decided to help Ms. T’s classroom…
Ms. T is a teacher at the School for the Deaf and Blind and she wants to raise money to buy baking utensils to give these children a vocational skill. As an avid baker, this project touched me. In addition, I drove by the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind everyday while I was in college, on my way to the University. For children who already have to deal with being deaf or blind, access to steel bowls shouldn’t really be on their list of concerns.
Every project submitted to DonorsChoose.org is verified and given a deadline. When you give to the project, you’ll receive photos from the classroom when the project is complete. I can’t wait to see photos of a bunch of kids baking cookies!
With that giving card I learned about a charity that I would not have otherwise and I had a lot of fun browsing through the classroom projects. I felt so strongly about it that I matched the original gift card amount to further help that classroom. In the initial email Anna sent me, she suggested a few ways that couples could include DonorsChoose.org in their weddings:
- Classroom project wedding “registries”: On our site, any couple can create what we call a Giving Page – a personalized page with their picture, a short text description, and the classroom projects they’d like their friends and families to support in lieu of gifts. Check out our Weddings “leaderboard” to see the many couples who have done this!
- Wedding favors:
- DonorsChoose.org gift cards: Anyone can visit our site and purchase DonorsChoose.org gift cards in any denomination. They work just like retail gift cards – you choose the amount, then you allow the recipient to choose what classroom project to donate those funds to. Couples tell us that gift cards are amazing favors!
- Donations in honor of wedding guests: A handful of couples have chosen to make donations in honor of their wedding guests, and have come up with some creative ways of including an announcement that they’ve done so in their table setting
To see the stories of couples who have included DonorsChoose.org in their wedding celebrations, you can take a peek their our blog.
As you know, I love the idea of giving other people the opportunity to get engaged and give. Without the gift card which gave me a reason to browse around the site, I may not be sharing this charity with you today. Imagine the impact you could have if all your guests got the same opportunity that I just did.
You can also catch up with DonorsChoose.org on Facebook and Twitter.
I am loving this charitable suggestion, Alicia! The gift cards make an amazing way to donate and double as a favor! Great post!
I am a Donors Choose teacher and love that you are writing about it. My classroom has been transformed by the great donors of Donors Choose. I love the project you picked, how wonderful. Thanks for getting the word out, I know for me what I want for my class and what I can afford two completely different things. Donors Choose helps bridge that gap. Thank you for helping others find out about this great charity.
Wow, what an amazing organization. Thanks for sharing, Alicia! As someone who personally benefited from music programs throughout my entire education, I’m always disheartened to know the arts are one of the first to feel the budget cuts. I love that DonorsChoose.org lets you select projects and causes that are meaningful to you!
I think it is a great thing you are doing giving props to DonorsChoose.org and all of the supportive donors who are helping classrooms across the country. I have been very lucky to receive much needed materials for my precious students with special needs. Thank you for raising awareness!