On average, educators spend more than $500 of their own money each year on classroom supplies and materials.1 If you’re one of the many teachers who use their own money for school supplies, DonorsChoose may be a great option.
What is DonorsChoose?
DonorsChoose is a nonprofit organization that connects teachers in need of classroom resources with donors who want to help. Since 2000, DonorsChoose has enabled the funding of more than 2 million classroom projects, bringing in more than $1 billion in resources to public school classrooms. And on average, 82% of projects posted to DonorsChoose are funded.2
Who is eligible to submit project requests?
Full-time classroom teachers at public schools who spend more than 75% of each workday with students are eligible to submit a project. Other full-time, front-line educators at public schools (nurses, guidance counselors, etc.) are also eligible.
How does it work?
Visit DonorsChoose.org and select “Get started!” to create a teacher account. Once you’ve signed up, log in to your account and create your project by selecting a vendor, shopping for materials and choosing the items you need. Once your project has been created, you will be guided through the remaining steps to describe your project and explain how it will benefit your students.
What happens after I submit my project?
DonorsChoose volunteers will review your project and post it on the site. Once it’s posted, donors can visit the site and choose to help fund the project. If your project gets funded, DonorsChoose orders the materials and ships them to the school.
How do I get my project funded?
Spread the word! A great way to get your project funded is by sending an email to your students’ parents and posting your project on social media. You may also want to get the community involved by posting it on bulletin boards and windows of local businesses, coffee shops or organizations, such as the PTA.
Other tips for getting projects funded:
- Projects under $600 are more likely to get funded.
- Projects with a link to the teacher’s Facebook page almost always get funded.
- Use pictures to showcase your students and your projects.
- Explain how having your project funded will help you achieve your classroom goals and why donations are valuable to achieving them.
Learn more about how to get funded.
Horace Mann and DonorsChoose
Horace Mann’s passion is helping teachers in and out of the classroom because we believe they have one of the most important jobs on the planet. That’s why we’ve proudly been a national sponsor of DonorsChoose since 2010.
To date, Horace Mann and our representatives have donated more than $5 million in DonorsChoose funding, impacting 2 million students and funding more than 49,000 projects. Schools served by Horace Mann representatives have received more than $913 million in funding to date.
¹Scholastic Teacher & Principal School Report: Equity in Education Survey
²DonorsChoose.org
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