USA Network has announced the winners of the first-ever Character Approved Awards to honor individuals from a cross-section of creative disciplines who are positively influencing American culture. This year’s winner for Giving is DonorsChoose.org founder Charles Best. As a public school teacher in the Bronx, Best saw a classic problem—the lack of money for teaching supplies—and came up with a radical solution: the eBay of philanthropy.Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org allows teachers nationwide to post online requests for classroom materials and for donors to give directly to those needs via the web. A video highlighting Best will soon be featured on the USA Network over the next several months. It is currently on view over at YouTube. The video not only features a Bronx classroom that has benefited from using DonorsChoose.org—but Best’s own awesome mustache that was a part of the Mustaches for Kids competition that raised over $300K for public schools.
