By Kris
Thursday,
Jun 26, 2008 at 4:16pm
At Principals’ Center Collaborative in San Francisco, teenagers with a troubled past are given a chance to redeem themselves. “Burglary, robbery, (and) assault,” are just some of the crimes committed by students, according to school Principal Kevin Kerr. In Mr. Enguidanos’ biology classroom, these same kids have discovered an extraordinary passion for science.
“When we give (students) really exciting, stimulating learning experiences, then they forget all the drama in their lives” said Mr. Enguidanos. This creative teacher says that units on dissection (using materials provided by DonorsChoose.org) has sparked students’ interest in science. Now Mr. Enguidanos wants them to expand their curiosity by focusing on pond biology. With the help of nets, guides, and other equipment, Mr. Enguidanos’s students will explore plants, insects, arthropods, and spiders.
San Francisco television reporter Lyanne Melendez ran a story about this unique biology class recently, as part of her award-winning series on DonorsChoose.org. Before the newscast was over, the project was fully funded! These resources will be waiting for Mr. Enguidanos’s students when school reconvenes in late summer. You can view the video of Mr. Enguidanos and his classroom here.
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By Katie
Thursday,
at 3:45pm
The Atlantic Region is so excited to welcome three summer interns to our Washington DC office. Below are the bios of our three interns, with added commentary from Kate Hays, Deputy Director, who heads up our DC office.
MAX KIRSCH
From Max: My name is Max Kirsch and I’m a rising senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD. I have a variety of interests, most notably web design/programming (I created my school newspaper’s website) and basketball. I learned about DonorsChoose.org during the 2007 Bloggers Challenge. I regularly read Engadget.com (a technology blog) and they were part of the competition. I read about the organization and decided to donate a small amount to finish a science project in Illinois. A couple months later I received the thank-you package complete with letters from the students and pictures of them using the microscopes that were funded. I was so impressed by the comprehensiveness of the feedback and the transparency of the donation process that I emailed Mr. Best asking if there was some way that I could volunteer in the Washington, DC area. Now I’m writing this on my third day working in the DC office and I couldn’t be more pleased with my internship. I’m eager to meet the people that make this great organization possible!
From Kate: Max has, in three days, demonstrated his range of abilities, from excel guru, to knowing more about wireless internet cards than the AT&T guy, to mastering Skype emoticons, and quickly becoming our local technology help desk.
JAMES GRANT
From James: My name is James Grant, and I am a rising senior at Georgetown University majoring in American Studies and Political Economy. I was first introduced to DonorsChoose.org by a fellow Baker Scholar at Georgetown named Greg Pope. The Baker Scholars are a select group of college students who are interested in business and community service. Each year, we visit New York to speak with leaders and entrepreneurs in a variety of fields, and the year before I was accepted, the Bakers met with Charles Best. Greg told me about the goals and ideas behind DonorsChoose.org, and I could not help but want to work for this groundbreaking organization myself. I am excited to spend this summer with a purpose behind my efforts that I feel will make a difference in this country. This will be the first nonprofit where I have been employed, but I have worked at Warner Brothers Studios and the White House during college. Through DonorsChoose.org, I hope to gain an appreciation for my upbringing, as well as a sense of hope that all students can be as lucky as I have been.
From Kate: If James had been at our staff retreat, his factoid might have been that he was a 2008 College Jeopardy Contestant. He’s also an aspiring novelist, prospective law school student, lover of DonorsChoose.org thank-you packages, and soon-to-be Mustaches For Kids guru. [James! Didn’t I tell you you’d be required to grow a mustache to fulfill your internship requirements?!]
ADAM ARONOW
From Adam: I’m Adam Aronow, a rising sophomore at Tufts Unversity, and I just started as one of the DC summer interns. I had heard about DonorsChoose.org from my parents and went to the DC office’s Open House in May, where I found out about the internship. As I learn more about DonorsChoose.org, I regularly admire the innovation and creativity that accomplishes much needed results for classrooms. As for myself, I spend my free time practicing Tae Kwon Do and photography. On the days when I’m not here, I volunteer at a Spanish Senior Center, where the old women flirt with me or make fun of my Spanish, and sometimes, when I’m really lucky, both at the same time. I’ve enjoyed my first day and I look forward to the rest of my time here.
From Kate: Adam, as you can likely tell, has a fine sense of humor, and some of his computer artwork today indicated a healthy spirit of competition and fun that clearly demonstrates he deserves his slot on the Atlantic Team (or as we like to call ourselves, the A-Team). He also says that our copier is a lot snazzier than the Spanish Senior Center’s.
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By Kate
Wednesday,
Jun 25, 2008 at 4:58pm
…For awards, and we’ve got another one to report here at DonorsChoose.org. On June 2nd, DonorsChoose.org was named a ComputerWorld Honors Laureate and Finalist. What does this mean? DonorsChoose.org was recognized as an organization whose “use of information technology has been especially noteworthy for originality of conception, breadth of vision and significance to society.”
Thanks to our friends at Sapient, who nominated us for this award, we were selected to be one of about 200 Laureates, and were granted a further honor, designated as one of five finalists in the non-profit sector. The big day on June 2nd included an awards ceremony, honoring and medaling all 200 laureates, and it finished with a beautiful gala at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington DC, where finalists and award winners were announced. I was on site, dining with our Sapient promoters and some fellow laureates, and I was pleasantly surprised to be called on stage to collect DonorsChoose.org’s finalist award. Here I am, beribboned, and awarded:
I can safely say we’re excited to keep using technology for good!
For more information on the ComputerWorld Honors Program, click here.
-Kate, Deputy Director, Atlantic Region
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By Thalia
Wednesday,
at 4:46pm
Check out this innovative idea for engaging alumni around a 50th high school reunion celebration!
Alumni from the Classical High School Class of 1957 announced an exciting $20,000 donation to the Springfield, MA public school district at local event on June 13th (see picture at bottom).
In 2006, the 50th reunion committee of the Class of 1957 decided that instead of buying party favors and gifts for reunion attendees, they would instead give their money back to the public school system that had provided them with a high quality education 50 years ago. Alumna Diane Drude Hartfield said during the event, “We know the Springfield schools aren’t the same, and we know they need help.” $10,000 in alumni donations were generously matched dollar-for-dollar by Circle Medical Devices, a California-based company.
The Classical High alumni gift committee announced their combined $20,000 gift on June 13 to Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno, as well as their decision to administer the charitable fund through DonorsChoose.org. The committee is encouraging local Springfield teachers to submit short grant requests for creative classroom projects which get posted to a special website where alumni from the other regional high schools as well as local businesses can participate in supporting local teachers. Educators from surrounding school districts were also invited to the event to learn about DonorsChoose.org as a funding resource for their teachers.
Please visit the Classical High School Class of 1957’s Alumni Gift website to learn more about these citizen philanthropists’ innovative efforts to support local teachers. We applaud Classical High’s alumni group for choosing to skip the party favors and instead, work together to provide meaningful support to their local schools and teachers!
Classical High Mascot
Springfield Teachers at the June 13th Event
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By Jeff W
Wednesday,
at 3:36pm
Two organizations that we at DonorsChoose.org have a lot of respect for are Teach for America and the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP). That’s why we jumped at the chance to work with our colleagues here in Atlanta to convene a panel made up of: Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP, and our own founder, Charles Best.
These three Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award Winners spoke on June 10th, about improving education in our country. They also shared some fun stories about starting their organizations – who knew U2’s “Achtung Baby” played a key part in the founding of KIPP or that it would take some tasty treats to convince the first teachers to use DonorsChoose.org?
The audience made up of community leaders spanning foundations, corporations, the government, and education, participated in the discussion and networked before and after the event. Further demonstrating the collaboration among our organizations, a first grade Teach for America teacher, a fifth grade KIPP teacher who had received resources through DonorsChoose.org, as well as Jaime Williams, previously featured on our blog for her class’ Pay It Forward project, also attended.
The strong turnout really spoke to the emphasis that Atlanta leaders place on education. We at DonorsChoose.org are excited and energized to be a part of this great community of organizations and leaders as we work toward providing solutions to the challenges that face education today!
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By Kate
Tuesday,
Jun 24, 2008 at 11:22am
On April 24, 2008, more than 700 education supporters filled the Washington DC Convention Center to attend School Night, an annual event hosted by Fight For Children. Fight For Children is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure all children in the nation’s capital have opportunities to learn, grow and succeed.
By redeeming their DonorsChoose.org Giving Cards, School Night guests helped to fill Washington DC classrooms with math comprehension games, technology to improve literacy, multimedia art centers, and more.
School Night guests redeemed these Giving Cards at six computer kiosks connected to the Internet, allowing guests to directly fund DC classroom projects, right then, right there.
You can read more about the event in the Washington Post article, as well as at Fight For Children’s website. Thanks, Fight For Children, for including and incorporating DonorsChoose.org into School Night in such a cool way!
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By Melanie
Friday,
Jun 13, 2008 at 2:35pm
I am a 6th grade math and science teacher in Oakland, CA. I’ve been using DonorsChoose.org for three years to get resources for my students. So far, I’ve had 37 proposals funded. It’s been relatively easy to make this happen, and I wanted to share this success with other teachers. Here are my top four tips to making DonorsChoose.org work for you as a teacher:
1. Keep it cheap! I’ve found that proposals that are relatively inexpensive (under $400) are very likely to get funded quickly. I’ve also had larger proposals funded, but they sometimes take longer to get more donors intrigued.
2. Get the donation ball rolling. I often let my friends and family know that I’ve posted a new proposal. Especially when I started teaching, those close to me really did want to help me get resources for my classroom. Even if someone can just give $20, it makes your proposal partially funded and likely to attract donors who are trying to “finish off” a proposal that has already received donations. In the past, I’ve gotten the word out by including links to proposals in my email signature and on my Facebook profile.
3. Get ideas from others. Where have I gotten all the ideas for these 37 proposals? From other teachers, of course! I’ve often searched the site for my content area (middle school math or science) to see what other teachers are asking for - it gives me ideas about what my own students could use! Whenever I visit another classroom and see something that would benefit my students, I’ll make sure to post a proposal for that item or idea when I get the chance.
4. Use classroom “down” time to get thank-you notes written. In a high-stakes world, it is sometimes tough to find time in class to write thank you notes to donors when proposals are funded. However, we all know how important it is to thank the donors; it’s also such an important lesson for our students to learn how to be thankful for what they receive. I find the time to do this during quizzes and tests - students are instructed before they begin that they should write a thank you note after they have finished their test. It eliminates the problem of quick students having nothing to do while they wait for their classmates to complete a test. I ask them to be detailed and include pictures in their letters. On the white board, I have written the name of the donor, any words or phrases they might need (such as “reusable batteries and charger”, “appreciate”, and “Sincerely”) in the letter so that they can be self-driven in writing their letter.
Good luck with your proposals!
–
Jessica Eastman
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By Kari
Friday,
at 2:20pm
On March 29th, 2008 Crate and Barrel and Donorschoose.org received the Cause Marketing Forum’s Silver Halo Award, America’s highest honor for companies that “do well by doing good” through joint projects that are both profitable and promote social causes.
“The Cause Marketing Halo Awards demonstrate the good that can be done when businesses and nonprofits team up,” said David Hessekiel, president of Cause Marketing Forum, Inc. “It’s a competition in which we all win.”
Since 2006, Crate and Barrel and its customers have given over $700,000 to public school classrooms through the unique Giving Card program created by DonorsChoose.org. As a ‘thank-you’ to its customers, Crate and Barrel distributed over 128,000 DonorsChoose.org Giving Cards. Those Giving Cards were redeemed online to help over 400,000 students. “The positive responses from our customers have been tremendous, and we are excited to continue our partnership with DonorsChoose.org,” says Barbara Turf, Crate and Barrel CEO. Research following the campaign found that Crate and Barrel customers not only saw the company as more “community-minded” but spent more at Crate and Barrel following the DonorsChoose.org Giving Card Experience.
In addition to Crate and Barrel, the DonorsChoose.org Giving Card program has been used by Google to send to clients and by Yahoo! to send to employees. This program has been highlighted by the Wall Street Journal as a proven mechanism for companies to increase customer loyalty and purchase intent. For more information about the DonorsChoose.org Giving Card program email, Kari Hayden kari@donorschoose.org.
Below: Our EVP of Strategic Development, Brita Lombardi accepting the Award on behalf of DonorsChoose.org
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By Kelly
Monday,
Jun 9, 2008 at 10:35am
Neil Armstrong Elementary’s 4th and 5th grade students are not only gardeners, they are also philanthropists. For the past few weeks, the San Francisco Bay Area students have been watering, fertilizing, and grooming the marigold seeds that they had planted at school. Their dedication has resulted in over 5,000 blooming marigolds! This week, the students will sell their marigolds to a local landscaping business and plant the marigolds at a nearby business park. The students will then use the funds received from the sale of the flowers to fund proposals that they select on the DonorsChoose.org website.
By growing and selling the marigolds in the past year, the Neil Armstrong Elementary students funded over 20 teacher proposals that provided over 2,500 hours of instruction to over 600 students. The Neil Armstrong Elementary students are hoping that this year, their efforts will have an even greater impact. They have created a challenge page at DonorsChoose.org encouraging their community to match the funds that they have raised. In addition, 20/20 ran a story about their project which can be viewed, here.
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By Kelly
Wednesday,
Jun 4, 2008 at 5:11pm
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. Kidder is third grade teacher who’s not only growing a garden, but a village. His students at Palma Ceia Elementary school love learning about the environment, but they lack the resources they need to grow a successful garden.
Mr. Kidder has a deep passion for environmental education, and his students are fascinated by gardening. This gifted teacher says, “I want my students to be able to understand that by eating plants means that they need to respect the plants — how they grow, what goes into the ground, what is in the air that the plants are taking in and converting through photosynthesis to provide us with oxygen.” To further bring the message of the importance of a garden home, Mr. Kidder has invited some of his students’ parents, who are themselves gardeners and landscapers, to help with garden planting and maintenance. In this way, the third-graders gain a deeper appreciation for the work their parents are doing and the interconnectedness of their “village.” DonorsChoose.org is proud to have helped by bringing Mr. Kidder’s vision to the attention of citizen philanthropists, who provided plants and nonfiction books about plant life-cycles.
San Francisco television reporter Lyanne Melendez ran a story about Mr. Kidder’s garden recently, as part of her award-winning series on DonorsChoose.org. You can view the video of Mr. Kidder and his classroom, here .
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