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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:

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