By Oliver
Thursday,
Jul 31, 2008 at 2:35pm
We’re super excited that Joe, Peter, and Eric over at Social Action Labs are building a WordPress plug-in that promotes DonorsChoose.org classroom projects!
The plug-in will enable WordPress to automatically accompany each blog post with relevant recommendations for classroom projects. It will do this by first analyzing the content of a blog post to extract the key topics, then using our JSON API to pull in projects related to those same topics.
Such a cool application of our API! We’re looking forward to testing this cool plug-in right here on our blog.
If you have a blog and are willing to also give this cool free functionality a test-drive, do take a moment to pledge your support for the project at ThePoint.
Oliver
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By Mike
Thursday,
May 29, 2008 at 8:36pm
We were delighted by “yertle,” a former high school teacher who chose DonorsChoose.org as the subject of her Haiku Friday post:
am so far behind
in reading and in writing
so overwhelming
hard to jump back in
both with life and with blogging
don’t know where to start
a new addiction
check out DonorsChoose.org
I can’t stop giving
funded 5 projects
supporting math and science
helping feels so good
One of our Ops staff wrote, “I guess a sense of rueful contemplation and references to the wind rustling through the cherry blossoms aren’t requirements for haikus? Good to know.”
Inspired by yertle’s example, I composed this haiku, written from the perspective of a DonorsChoose.org teacher. Apologies to Basho.
I got an email:
My project has been funded.
Bliss overwhelms me.
Feel free to leave your own DonorsChoose.org haiku in the comments.
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By Mike
Friday,
Mar 21, 2008 at 12:19pm
Stephen Colbert has challenged the nation to “vote” in the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary by funding a Pennsylvania classroom project in honor of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama (or, if you’re undecided, both!)
Last fall, the Colbert Nation gave $66,000 to South Carolina classrooms in support of Stephen’s presidential run. As of high noon today, donors have given $37,158 in honor of their favorite candidate! Do Senators Clinton and Obama have the keystones to do for the Keystone State what the Colbert Nation did for the Palmetto State? Let’s find out. Right now Obama is in the lead — this is your chance to show your support in the “straw poll that makes a difference”!
The “Democralypse!” Challenge has been picked up by The Philadelphia Inquirer, dotCommonweal, I’ve Made a Huge Tiny Mistake, and End Politics as Usual. We’re sure there will be more linkage coming as Colbert heads to Philadelphia.
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By Charlotte
Tuesday,
Jan 29, 2008 at 9:20pm
DonorsChoose.org is the proud winner of a 2007 TechCrunch Crunchie as the organization “Most likely to make the world a better place.” Watch Jeff Weiner, Executive Vice President of Yahoo! and a DonorsChoose.org board member, accept the award at this link at 52min, 30sec.
We were honored to be in the company of Kiva, One Laptop Per Child, Zerofootprint, and Facebook Causes, the other finalists for the award. Thank you, TechCrunch voters!
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By Charlotte
Saturday,
Dec 15, 2007 at 12:02am
Looking for a project?
- Tyler Green of the Modern Art Notes blog is encouraging his readers to support arts projects through his challenge page.
- The American Federation of Teachers highlights two DonorsChoose.org projects on its blog.
- The blogger behind Three Words Back… is offering some cool bounty for those who donate through his challenge page.
Want to hear about a feedback package?
Decorno calls her feedback from the students a “cute little packet of love.”
Looking for a holiday gift?
- Check out what the QC report and Luxist have to say about DonorsChoose.org gift certificates.
- You can bid on a signed set of the My So-Called Life DVDs on eBay with all proceeds benefiting DonorsChoose.org!
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By Charlotte
Wednesday,
Dec 5, 2007 at 7:35pm
Internet history has been made. During the month of October, more than a hundred bloggers inspired their readers to give $420,000 to classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org, reaching 75,000 students from low-income communities.
Winners: By raising $139,509, Tim Ferriss, creator of LitLiberation, won the Google Award. By mobilizing 1,099 readers and reaching 15,953 kids, TomatoNation won the Yahoo! Award and Six Apart Award. Five blogs came up with especially creative ways to inspire giving, thereby earning the Federated Media Award.
Other winners include Fred Wilson of aVC (Technology Leaderboard), Kara Swisher of All Things D (FM Award), PZ Myers of Pharyngula (ScienceBlogs Leaderboard), and Apartment Therapy (Topical/Local Leaderboard). Early adopters include TechCrunch, Engadget, Curbed, Anil Dash, and Young Manhattanite. Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert has been lighting up the VotersChoose leaderboard after an interview with Craig Newmark.
We hope you’re inspired to create your own challenge! Questions? Email charlotte (at) donorschoose (dot) org.
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By Tatiana
Monday,
Oct 8, 2007 at 12:31pm
- The Blogger Challenge is on! And bloggers all over the country are giving it their all to show that they have the most concerned and generous readers. We can’t contain our excitement about the range of amazing ideas getting posted on the Blogger Challenge:
- Six Apart is so excited about DonorsChoose.org that they gave out $30 gift certificates to anybody who asked for them! Check out their announcement of the news on LiveJournal and Movable Type. 431 eager citizen philanthropists have already chosen classroom projects to fund with the gift certificates they requested!
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By Charlotte
Wednesday,
Oct 3, 2007 at 2:14pm
So, it’s officially Day 3 of the Blogger Challenge, and this is DonorsChoose.org’s first post about it. What’s with that?
Well I, for one, have been too preoccupied with 1. being über-excited as classroom projects are being funded left and right, and 2. reading the blogs of all the participants who have posted about the Blogger Challenge (and getting too frequently distracted by all the other great posts on said blogs….). So here, finally, is the official DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge launch post.
The Blogger Challenge is an initiative to engage bloggers both big and small and their readers in a communal effort to help public school students get the resources they need to learn. The challenge will last through October, with some lucky bloggers winning the Google Award, Yahoo! Award, Six Apart Award, and Federated Media Award at the end of the month. If you’d like to read more about the Blogger Challenge, check out the press release for some more interesting tidbits.
Almost anything is fair game in terms of encouraging one’s readers to donate (although let’s keep this legal and ethical, shall we?!), including offsprings’ commissioned artwork ($25), magnets ($30), ad space (top donor) and tomato costumes ($40,000).
Whether your challenge goal is $100 or $100,000, we welcome all bloggers to the fray. And donors, every little bit you can contribute helps to make projects a reality. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has already set up a challenge, donated, or spread the word!
I would say bring it, but it’s kind of already being brought… so keep up the good work! We’ll be posting about the Blogger Challenge all through October, so stay tuned. And bloggers, it’s certainly not too late to join.
Any questions/comments/problems, shoot ‘em my way - charlotte at donorschoose dot org.
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By Tatiana
Monday,
Sep 24, 2007 at 6:03pm
- Bryan Miller says, “DonorsChoose.org – it does what it says on the tin (and it’s fantastic!).” He also mentions our nod as “One of the 59 Smartest Orgs Online.”
- We’re in a Marketingenious list highlighting Web 2.0 pioneers!
- Sometimes citizen philanthropists say it better than we do. Check out AweBsome, Care2, Gregladen, Ed-Polliwog, KimandJason, Esperanzazine, The Senior Surfer.
- Bloggers are already buzzing about the “Blogger Challenge” (coming October 1st!) in which they will create a Challenge page and encourage their readers to fund their favorite projects:
- Tomato Nation readers raised $30,000 last year, and Sarah gracefully shaved her head in return for the favor. Sarah is looking for a new daring feat to make sure her Challenge gets funded. Trust us, you want to read her ideas and give your input on her Tomato Nation blog.
- ScienceBlogs raised $35,000 last year for science and math projects. They’re trying for more this year!
- Teachers (and friends of teachers) share their excitement about DonorsChoose.org in these blogs: GetRealScience, ScienceBlogs, InsideSchools, Twowritingteachers, theflyingturtle.
- Blogs pick up on DonorsChoose.org in the Doonesbury comic. Take a look at WhereMostNeeded (our EVP of Engagement responds to questions about our philanthropic model in a blog comment), Learningcraft, Beth, and Joho.
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By Mike
Wednesday,
Sep 5, 2007 at 3:39pm
- Kara Swisher interviews Charles about our national expansion. Click on the video, it’s just like having breakfast with Best!
- The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Smart Mobs, onLine at onPhilanthropy, Whitney Tilson, The Episcopal Café, The New Jew, Social Actions and Gift Hub pick up on the Wall Street Journal article.
- After the Jump Fest has a roundup of the benefit concert for DonorsChoose.org. Yours truly was interviewed by soft communication and the Merry Swankster before the event, which got picked up by the New York Times, the New York Press, The New Yorker, etc. Lots of flickr pix too. The concert was a lot of fun — special thanks to all the bloggers who put it together, and to Ra Ra Riot who donated their EP and swag proceeds to DonorsChoose.org.
- Andy Sernovitz says “There is no charity quite like Donors Choose.”
- Ivory Tower Due calls us “An Example of Rational Charity.”
- Tom Williams at GiveMeaning, our northern cousin, looks forward to the future of on-line philanthropy in 2017.
- Amy Bowllan at School Library Journal points out that teachers in New Orleans still need resources, two years after Katrina.
- Where-Rabbit notes that DonorsChoose.org is one solution to the Miss Teen South Carolina question — why is it that Americans can’t find the USA on a map?
- Life in the Vertigo Waldens rallies the birders to support a birding project.
- Teachers (and Friends of Teachers) blog! Quodlibets, Bici Vecchia, katie, Gold Hill Elementary Blog, and San Francisco Schools are blogging about DonorsChoose.org.
- philidendron discusses an alternative to DonorsChoose.org — dumpster diving! We hope it doesn’t come to that for all the teachers going back to school this week.
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