Team Teaching Tuesday: Donors Choose

1

Today's Team Teaching Tuesday post is about the wonderful website Donors Choose!!

I'm sure many of you have already heard about Donors Choose on some way shape or form. Maybe you heard about that teacher in your school who scored the new listening center through Donors Choose or maybe you were that teacher!!  For those who still aren't quite sure what it is, Donors Choose is an awesome non for profit that supports classroom teachers and assists them in bringing new and much needed resources into your classroom!  Teachers can create mini grants through the website and go shopping in their E-School mall for materials to enhance their classroom instructional and learning environment. Once your project is posted to the site you can share it out with your school community and your own friends and family. Many people have the ability to contribute small amounts towards funding your overall project total. 

I have been fortunate enough to have two very big projects funded with the help of Donors Choose. You can read about both of them in great detail by clicking the links below.

Project # 1: Classroom Carpet

Project #2: Four iPod Touch Devices

 

{These arrived this past December when Snowball the Elf was hanging in our room}

FACTS 

These are both items that we use every.single.day.

The carpet is pretty much every kids favorite spot to do everything. 

The iPods are hands down our *FAVORITE* station for math and reading.

I would not have been able to bring either of them into my room without the help of Donors Choose. 

This year, Donors Choose has something new going on that makes funding your project even easier. The first seven days after your project gets posted, donors can enter in this special match code at checkout.....

For every "Inspire" match code that is entered, Donors Choose will match the donation made up to $100. So if someone donates $20, Donors Choose will also contribute $20 towards your project too, instantly!  It's so exciting to see how quickly the project gets funded with the help of this code!! You can read more about the "Inspire Code" and exactly how it works here, directly from the Donors Choose website. 

1. Use Social Media: Once your project is posted don't be afraid to shout it from the rooftops or the screen shots! Donors Choose will give you the option to sync project updates to your Facebook account and share them on your wall. E-mail your project link to your co-workers, school families, plus your own family and friends. I always ask people to please check out my project and consider forwarding it along/share it out with anyone they think may be interested. You never know who will see it and decide they'd like to help out!

2. Find Match Codes: In addition to the Inspire code I talked about above, you can search other match codes and partner funding opportunities that are being offered by state. If your project meets the requirements of the partner funding donors, they can help you drastically reduce the overall cost of your project.

3. Tell How It Helps Your Class: Be specific about how you will use these items in your classroom. Who is it helping and what is it helping them do? Keep it kid centered! Most Donors will select projects where they can feel great about knowing exactly what they helped bring to your students. If your project includes items you will be able to use again and again each year, be sure to point that out too. 

4. Patience: Products stay posted on the site for month's at a time before expiring so don't get worried if your project isn't funded right away. You may get a surge of donations when you first share and then go weeks without a donation. This doesn't necessarily mean your project won't get funded. My rug was posted the full term and received full funding the last 2 weeks of the project. Continue to share out little reminders that your project is still live. 

5. Start Small: Donors Choose will give you a few points to start so that you can create your first project. More expensive items (like iPads and Computers) "cost" way more account points than smaller items in the $100 range. I advise people to start small and work their way up to the bigger projects once you have filled your first project or two. Once you've earned six points you can request materials from anywhere, not just the Donors Choose E-Mall. Right now I am looking at starting a project for a series of Non-Fiction books from Carson Dellosa that I could only create because I've earned over 6 points. 

If you have a Donors Choose project that is still in need of funding OR You've had a project funded, I invite you to write a NEW blog post about it and link up to this week's Team Teaching. In the past I have always said old posts are fine too, but I really want to help spread the word this week about Donors Choose and hopefully *inspire* some new people to give it a try!

 I may just have a little giveaway coming up later this week and linking up with a new post may just give you a few extra entries of the good ol' Raffeclopter thingy ;)


JOIN THIS WEEK'S TEAM TEACHING TUESDAY  

1) Write a new blog post about your current DC project or one that was previously posted.

2) Include the Team Teaching Tuesday Button below and link back to this post 

3) Add your post to the linky :)