Our Blog

Amazing partnerships are at the heart of all effective change-based nonprofit work! DonorsChoose.org has just struck up one such partnership; we are thrilled to announce that we are working with the Freedom Writers Foundation! I know you are asking yourself: “What in the world took so long?” Given how closely aligned our missions are, that is a great question. There is no excuse except that we have all been busy. Freedom Writers’ Executive Director, Faye Walsh, reached out to us last month and asked the same question – “what has taken us so long?” We both lamented that we hadn’t met before the movie! Oh well, it has literally been a love-fest between our organizations since then!

I assume that if you are on our site, you already know all about the incredible story of Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers. Further, you have probably seen Hilary Swank in the movie. In fact, if you are on our site, you probably embody the entrepreneurial spirit of the Freedom Writers. I won’t go into detail here, but if you don’t know about this group, check out their site at www.freedomwritersfoundation.org.

I spent this past Saturday morning with 150 teachers from all around the country who were participating in the Freedom Writers Institute. The morning was amazing (there is that word again). I followed Peter Thum, the founder of Ethos water. Peter talked to teachers about his journey and about the entrepreneurial spirit that made his dream a reality.

Quick side note- big “shout out” to Pierre Omidyar – he was an initial investor in Ethos Water and was responsible for what Thum calls the company’s “breakthrough!” As you know, Pierre Omidyar was there for us at our “breakthrough” this past September. Obviously, Mr. Omidyar recognizes great organizations when he sees them.

Anyway, I worked my way to the front of the hotel ballroom as Peter was answering the last question (a teacher was asking about raising money to bring her class to Africa – of course, I wondered if she had ever heard of DonorsChoose.org). Erin Gruwell raced over to me and gave me a big hug (who knew such a tiny person could give such a huge bear hug?). Finally, I was up and when Erin said: “please welcome Tee Hubbard from DonorsChoose.org,” the room erupted- literally! I couldn’t believe the reception we received. In retrospect, OF COURSE these folks knew all about us!! Needless to say, the presentation was a breeze - I was preaching to the converted for goodness sakes! By the way, I spoke to the incredibly motivated teacher who is bringing her class to Africa and she was two steps ahead of me – look for her proposal on our site soon.

I can’t express how excited I am about the notion of working with Erin, Faye and the rest of the teachers who work with the Freedom Writers Foundation. I think we are going do ground-breaking things together.

Finally, one personal note – working with these teachers this past weekend reminded me of a thought that I have been having since I started working here 2 ½ years ago. Every time I meet teachers who use DonorsChoose.org, I am always blown away not only by their commitment to their students but by their commitment to excellence. I wish I had a resource like DonorsChoose.org available to me when I was teacher.

Freedom Writers, the movie:

Real freedom writers:

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to receive new posts via email or RSS!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

We wanted to share an email from Dr. Andres Alonso, the Chief Executive Officer of the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS), encouraging the Baltimore community to visit www.DonorsChoose.org, learn about public education needs, and appreciate local teachers by supporting their projects.

And WE appreciate Dr. Alonso and his staff for helping us get the word out about the ways we’re trying to support Baltimore classrooms! Thanks, Baltimore!

You can learn more about the Baltimore City Public School System here, and you can find Baltimore City classroom projects to support here.

Here is the text of Dr. Alonso’s email to BCPSS community partners:

May 6, 2008

Dear Friends of City Schools.

Great teachers make great schools. Please join me this week, during Teacher Appreciation Week, as we celebrate all of our teachers throughout city schools.

Letting teachers know how much they mean to us is important. This year, I am going to ask you to go beyond what you normally do to show your appreciation, and financially support the work of one of our many great teachers in Baltimore City. (Click here to learn more about how you can do this at DonorsChoose.org.)

I’d like to tell you about one great teacher in particular, Kristin Covaleskie, a fourth-grade teacher at Northwood Elementary School. Today, Ms. Covaleskie was named Baltimore City’s 2008 Teacher of the Year, because every day she is contributing mightily to our effort to build an entire system of great schools.

An elementary teacher in the city since 1996, Ms. Covaleskie pushes her students to excel academically. She also develops in them the desire and skills to advocate for their communities. You’ve heard me say this before: at great schools students don’t just read, write, do math and perform well on tests; they also develop a broad body of knowledge that will carry them through life, and the skills to make the most of that knowledge. They learn to think, discover, question. For more than a decade, Ms. Covaleskie has pushed her students to do just that. She has used her classroom to provide a solid foundation for her students to be successful in school and in their communities. She cultivates in them respect for one another, and instills in them the importance of contributing to, and participating in a greater good. Day in and day out she helps shape the lives of her students and we are proud to claim her as our own.

I am asking you to go a little out of your way this week to let Ms. Covaleskie and all of our teachers know how very much we value their daily contributions to the education and lives of our students. Through Baltimore City schools’ partnership with DonorsChoose.org (www.DonorsChoose.org), people who care about our schools have funded 370 classroom projects so far this year. Another 266 projects are still waiting for help.

Here’s how it works: Teachers request specific materials and/or experiences their students need to learn. You choose to fund one of these classroom projects—any amount helps. A teacher feels supported and valued, and our students benefit and succeed.

Your support today is one way you can help our great kids get the great schools they deserve right now.

Sincerely,

Andrés A. Alonso, Ed. D

Chief Executive Officer

Baltimore City Public School System

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to receive new posts via email or RSS!

On Monday, we enabled website functionality that lets donors share their unique reason for giving, with the classroom they fund. On Wednesday, this amazing message was posted on the Writer’s Workshop Books project page:

“We gave to this project in honor of Jaqueline Luczywo for Mother’s Day. Jaqueline is Keith’s mom and she loves to read and is a skilled poet. Jacqueline lives in Indiana and it was important to us to give in her home state. We share a fond appreciation for writing and literature and we hope your teacher’s lessons will inspire your inner author!”
Lora & Keith Luczywo from Los Angeles, CA gave in honor of Jacqueline from Cicero, IN on May 7, 2008

Mother’s day is on Sunday. It’s not too late to give a gift that’s worthy of the woman who taught you everything you know – the gift of education.

Give to a classroom project in honor of your mother, and she’ll be notified instantly that she’s been honored.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to receive new posts via email or RSS!

Do you know anyone in the Washington DC area who would like to intern for DonorsChoose.org? See below for more details…

About The Position: The Program Intern will support the Atlantic Team to ensure the organization reaches its goals. The position includes but is not limited to the following specific responsibilities:

Marketing and Research: The Intern will work on key behind-the-scenes activities such as marketing and outreach to foundations, corporations, community organizations and donors. This includes identifying and researching potential partners, cataloging research, preparing and assembling materials for presentations to community organizations, foundations and corporations, and compiling data for reports to corporate and foundation partners.

Managing Donor Relationships and Administration: The Intern will help to maintain relationships with donors, as well as complete needed administrative tasks. This includes compiling student thank-you binders, writing thank-you letters and thank-you notes, cataloging media clips, mailing media clips to community contacts, writing blog posts about donor stories and assembling marketing materials, and other basic administrative tasks as requested.

This unpaid internship for the summer would be for a minimum of 10 hours per week and ideally for 18-30 hours per week. Position based in downtown Washington, DC at the DonorsChoose.org DC office. This is a great opportunity for experience with a cutting-edge nonprofit.

Qualifications: We are looking for individuals who have strong organizational, interpersonal, writing, and visual presentation skills. The ideal individual will espouse a commitment to improving public education. Please send resume and cover letter to Kate Hays at wdcintern (at) donorschoose (dot) org. Email subject line should read “DonorsChoose.org Internship Position.” No calls or faxes please.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to receive new posts via email or RSS!

The DonorsChoose.org club at Horace Mann, the nation’s first student DonorsChoose.org club, had its first bake sale on Friday, April 11, 2008. The students sold a variety of items, ranging from brownies, donuts, cupcakes, candy bars, magic bars to 30 pizza pies! Members of the club either donated baked goods and/or staffed the table. After dedicating a full day to the sale, they helped raise a whopping $800 in proceeds, which the club used to entirely fund a project, Scientific Calculators for My Seventh Grade Algebra Lesson in Chicago, and kick start the funding for Dictionaries for Second Graders. We all had a good time, and an even better time knowing so many deserving students were helped!

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to receive new posts via email or RSS!