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"A Florida teacher is going to infinity and beyond for her students. Rhonda Ripperger, a STEM teacher at South Lake Elementary School in Titusville, Florida, gets kids excited for learning by teaching them about space. 'I just want them to realize that science is all around them,' Ripperger told 'Good Morning America.' 'Like everywhere they look in the real world, it's science. And so I just really want to instill that passion in them.'"

‍Read and watch the full story on goodmorningamerica.com.

"Internet fundraising pioneer DonorsChoose announced Tuesday that the head of another crowdfunding powerhouse will succeed its founding CEO, Charles Best, who announced in April that he would be stepping down.Alix Guerrier, CEO of GlobalGiving, which raises money for international relief projects with a focus on local charities, will take the reins of DonorsChoose in March. Best will remain on the board of DonorsChoose. The two organizations combined have raised nearly $2 billion from donors, and they share a lot of the same DNA. In particular, both take a far more hands-on approach than many of their crowdfunding peers in vetting the recipients of donors’ generosity." Read the full story on philanthropy.com.

One look at his resume, and you might assume Alix Guerrier has been preparing to be CEO of DonorsChoose for the last 20 years. First a teacher, then an education consultant, followed by several years as co-founder of the powerhouse curriculum platform LearnZillion, and most recently the CEO of nonprofit funding site GlobalGiving, Alix will step into his next role as CEO of DonorsChoose in spring of 2022. 

Alix and DonorsChoose founder Charles Best shared the news in a video message to the DonorsChoose community.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy also shared the news in this article (free account required), noting how DonorsChoose and GlobalGiving are leading the charge in making crowdfunding more equitable and transparent.

We look forward to introducing Alix to our teachers, donors, partners, and supporters towards the end of this school year, as he transitions into the role.

Want to send a friendly hello to Alix? Leave a comment on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts!

"Giving Tuesday — the 'global generosity movement' that encourages people to engage in some post-Black Friday charitable giving — has arrived, and Mashable's rounded up some of this year’s biggest giveback campaigns. Started in 2012, Giving Tuesday falls on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, well-past Black Friday deals, small business Saturday roundups, and Cyber Monday sales. Through collaborations with national businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations, the day will hopefully catalyze millions of dollars in charitable donations to organizations around the country and the world. The official Giving Tuesday campaign hosts donation opportunities in 80 countries, and last year’s contributions totaled $2.47 billion in just the first 24 hours, according to the organization."
‍Read the full story on mashable.com.

Since 2015, Infosys Foundation USA has teamed up with DonorsChoose to bring computer science (CS) and making into classrooms. Through their Pathfinders Institute, thousands of K–12 teachers across the US trained up their CS skills, from coding, to makerspaces, to robotics, and beyond. Now, Infosys Foundation USA is helping teachers get the hands-on resources, kits and materials they need to bring those lessons to life for their students.

Support a project

A few months into the new school year, a key goal for teachers has come into focus: helping kids fall in love with learning after nearly two years of change and uncertainty. Our friends at Infosys Foundation USA recognize how transformational it can be for teachers to bring a robot or coding kit into the classroom to spark engaging, and innovative learning.  If you have never seen the way a student lights up when they see a robot in their classroom, you’ll have to take a teacher’s word for it — it’s unmatched!

“When students are given the opportunity to create something interactive that they think is cool, their engagement levels increase, and they retain more information. Robotics in schools can help students turn their frustration into creativity and innovation.” —Mrs. Bates, a middle school teacher from Michigan

Starting November 29, you can team up with Infosys Foundation USA to help teachers get computer science resources into their classroom.

While funding lasts, Infosys Foundation USA will double any donation made to qualifying computer science and maker ed projects from K-12 teachers.

Give today

Are you a teacher looking to create a project? Check out this help center article for full details on how to qualify for this Giving Tuesday opportunity!

Somewhere between the snack calendar and the bell schedule, there’s an open space on your classroom wall that’s perfect for posting your DonorsChoose pride. We’ve got you covered.

Our classroom decor gift to you: this snazzy poster that will let every parent, friend, and colleague who walks through the door know that A DonorsChoose Teacher Lives Here. Just download, print, and post!

And in case one poster isn’t enough to adequately express your DonorsChoose devotion, here are three more tools to help you spread the word:

• A pack of “Getting Started on DonorsChoose” flyers for new teachers. Pass them out, hand them to new teachers, or put them in teacher mailboxes.

• A pack of DonorsChoose postcards for any teacher at your school. These are perfect to hand to your colleagues or leave out in the faculty lounge.

• A poster to track and celebrate teachers posting projects at your school. Hang this in a common area and update it throughout the year.

Happy sharing! Many of these resources and more can be found in the Teacher Toolkit.

We tend to think about the challenges of our nation’s education system in broad strokes. The need for billions of dollars in capital improvements, sweeping modernizations to curricula and technology, and fundamental policy changes.

These big-ticket reforms are critical, yet they can have the adverse outcome of making people feel a little less empowered to be change agents themselves. 

I still remember watching my mom write a $25 check to the United Negro College Fund every month. Our family’s means were modest, but she knew that each of us has an opportunity and an obligation to be a changemaker. I’ve kept that lesson in my heart, and it rings true today.

The truth is that seemingly small things can make a world of difference – and technology can bring people of goodwill together to scale up all this change. 

DonorsChoose is one of the best vehicles I’ve found for doing this. This platform allows anyone to see the funding needs at local schools and make small-dollar contributions to help solve them. It’s a simple, tangible way to create positive change in a community, one project at a time.

My colleagues at Vista Equity Partners and I recently partnered with PowerSchool to fulfill more than 1,800 teacher funding requests worth about $1.25 million through DonorsChoose. These requests came from schools that serve predominately Black students in and around Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Houston, Memphis, and New Orleans. We specifically set out to help lift up communities of color and chip away at systemic racial inequities by investing in school districts that have historically received less state and local funding than majority-white districts.

This has been a wonderful way of experiencing the power of modest things. We bought one teacher cleaning supplies for her classroom; another received a set of bookshelves so their students could finally have a real library. Small though they may seem, they help teachers feel supported. They help students feel seen and cared for.

Browse DonorsChoose and you’ll see that many projects only need a few hundred dollars to get off the ground, yet they have the potential to make a profound impact. Buying that lab equipment or those art supplies could legitimately change a young person’s life.

That’s the power of education. That’s what my parents – both educators – believed in. That’s what they taught me to believe in.

"The Talk teamed up with Nature Made® to discuss their #TeachHealthy campaign, dedicated to empowering teachers to do their best work while supporting their immune health. Nature Made is donating $4 million to provide wellness supplies for their classrooms in partnership with DonorsChoose and over 7 million servings of immune-support products to teachers. Plus, today they announced a surprise donation of more than $1 million to flash fund every DonorsChoose project for the LA Unified School District."
‍Watch the full story on cbs.com.

"Marcella Lopez didn't always want to be a teacher — but once she became one, she found her passion. That's why she's stayed in the profession for 23 years, spending the past 16 at her current school in Los Angeles, where she mostly teaches children of color. 'I wanted purpose, to give back, to live a life of public service, to light the spark in others to think critically and to be kind human beings,' she says. 'More importantly, I wanted my students to see themselves when they saw me, to believe they could do it too.'Ms. Lopez didn't encounter a teacher of color until college. 'That moment was life-changing for me,' she recalls. 'It was the first time I felt comfortable in my own skin as a student. Always remembering how I felt in that college class many years ago has kept me grounded year after year.'"
‍Read the full story on upworthy.com.

"As a kid, Jamel Holmes knew he wanted to be a teacher. He would spend rainy days giving spelling tests and playing math games with other children in his apartment building in New York's South Bronx.But throughout elementary school, Holmes never had a teacher who looked like him. It wasn't until seventh grade that he had his first Black male teacher—Mr. Emdin. In some ways, he was lucky. Nearly 80% of teachers in the U.S. are white, and many Americans go their entire educations without having even one non-white teacher.Teachers of color make a difference, which is why education nonprofit DonorsChoose has teamed up with The Allstate Foundation to support them. According to research from Johns Hopkins University and American University, having at least one Black teacher in grades three through five reduces the likelihood of Black students dropping out of high school by up to 39% and increases the likelihood that students from low-income households will aspire to attend college. An analysis published in Education Next also found that Black teachers tend to have higher expectations of Black students, which contributes to greater success."
‍Read the full story on upworthy.com.

Summer is over and school is officially in session! As teachers and students faced the toughest back-to-school season yet, our community rallied to show their support.

Take a look at how our generous community of donors and partners came together in a big way for over 78,467 teachers this back-to-school season!

1. Welcoming 5,000 New DonorsChoose Teachers 

Teachers have spent the past 18 months switching between in-person, remote, and hybrid learning set ups, and we wanted to ease that burden by giving a helping hand to teachers new to our platform.

We empowered our community of educators to welcome their colleagues to DonorsChoose — every teacher who requested resources through DonorsChoose for the first time got a guaranteed $50 dollar donation. DonorsChoose teachers showed up in force, encouraging more than 5,000 teachers to set up their first ever DonorsChoose project and get over $455,000 in donations.

2. A $7 Million Back-to-School Boost

We surveyed over 400 teachers over the summer, and 74% of them said they didn’t have everything they needed in their classroom to start the school year.

Imagine students coming back to school with supplies out on their desks. The smile on their faces and the love they feel when they are coming back to school.

Imagine students coming back to school with supplies out on their desks. The smile on their faces and the love they feel when they are coming back to school. —Ms. Westerfield, an elementary teacher

Thanks to a 50% back-to-school boost from Bill Gates and the 40,256 donors who showed up, we were able to give teachers $7 million worth of support! Thanks to that funding, over 13 thousand teachers were able to put a smile on their students’ faces.

3. Support for Equity and Inclusion in the Classroom

Our friends at The Allstate Foundation rallied the public to help create inclusive, anti-racist, and culturally responsive learning environments. Thanks to their $1.5 million dollar match and the donors who showed their support, The Allstate Foundation helped fund 1,771 Racial Justice and Representation projects and 4,416 projects from teachers of color using DonorsChoose for the first time!

4. Partners for Success

At DonorsChoose, we know that to really create an impact, you need support! We’re lucky to have over 78 amazing corporate partners; this year thanks to companies like Bloomingdale’s, Clorox, Kleenex, T-Mobile and many others, we’ve been able to raise over $44 million and bring 95,990 classroom projects to life!

Are You Ready for an Amazing School Year?

Thank you to everyone in the DonorsChoose community who helped give teachers the strongest start to the year possible… and this is just the beginning! 

Our team of former educators, engineers, product fulfillment specialists, and partnerships experts are working hard to create more amazing moments for public school teachers — and we won’t stop until students in every community have the tools and experiences they need for a great education.

Teachers, if you're ready for an amazing year create a classroom request today!

Yvette Nicole Brown, Emmy-nominated* actress, host, producer, and Vice Chair of the DonorsChoose Board of Directors shares a heartfelt message for teachers entering the new school year.

On August 5th, Yvette joined expert teachers, leaders in equity and mental health, and DonorsChoose Founder, Charles Best for the first-ever DonorsChoose Teacher Summit. Check out more key moments from the summit and a free opportunity to learn, invest, and start the school year feeling energized and ready!

*She is already a winner in our eyes!