Guest post written by Ellen GoodmanThroughout my affiliation with DonorsChoose.org, I have been involved with several Giving Pages. My first experience with a Giving Page was when I noticed that someone had donated to my project through the Mustaches for Kids community page. That sparked my interest. I started to look for other Giving Pages and see what they were all about. I have personally created or co-created 6 different Giving Pages, 2 of which are currently active. My primary focus right now is on the Just Because You Care: Support Public Education Giving Page and its Facebook community.Here are some tips for creating a successful Giving Page:
1. Find a theme. People have many varied interests, so find something that interests you. Chances are it will interest others as well. A common theme will draw people to your page.
2.Make it a community. Giving Pages are about people supporting students, teachers and schools. Involve teachers and donors with a Facebook page, Twitter feed or blog, or any combination. People tend to give to those who they feel they know!
3. Have fun games or raffles. Once you have established your community, you want to bring eyes to the projects. I have found that raffles, trivia questions and/or challenges have greatly increased the donors to a specific page. Which brings us to...
4. Find sponsors! Running a Giving Page should not put anyone in the poor house. Reach out to people or companies that you have a relationship with and see if they will sponsor a give-away. One company that I have worked with on several occasions is Elmer's. They have a Teacher Club community and have generously sponsored a prize give-away and are planning on doing another. I have also received generous sponsorship from Endorse and The Teaching Channel.
5. Promote, promote, promote! Each Giving Page has its own way of promoting its mission. On the Just Because You Care Giving Page, we have a "Spotlight Teacher" feature. On the Facebook page, each Friday, a selected teacher writes a short article highlighting his or her teaching career and how/when/why they got involved with DonorsChoose.org, with a link to their projects included. I have noticed that once a "Spotlight Teacher" post is shared, new members join both the Facebook community page and donate to the Giving Page.
Here are a handful of the most active Giving Pages. Some are focused on funding projects by region, while others focus on subject area:
- Kindergarten Rocks supports teachers across the country, and from all grade levels. (Facebook)
- Music Makes Our Students Smarter focuses on supporting music projects across the country. (Facebook)
- FaerieFive is dedicated to promoting and assisting teachers with getting small projects funded. (Facebook)
- Just Because You Care: Support Public Education supports all manner of projects across the US. (Facebook)
- Special Acts for Special Kids is dedicated to supporting classrooms and students with special needs. (Facebook)
- Mrs. Kinder Owl supports early elementary teachers. (Facebook)
- The Costume Box is devoted to fashion, apparel, costume, & dress-up projects! (Facebook)
- Southern Hospitality focuses on supporting projects in high poverty schools in the Southern US. Roughly half the projects are from Never Been Funded teachers. (Facebook)
- Couponing for the Classroom focuses on projects across the country. (Facebook)
- Northern Lights focuses on supporting projects in high poverty schools in the Northern US. (Facebook)
- Carolina Girls supports projects in the Carolinas.
- Western Roundup is committed to helping ALL classrooms in the Western United States. (Facebook)
- Best in the Midwest highlights some of the best projects in the 12 Midwestern states. (Facebook)
- Mid-Atlantic Projects for DonorsChoose supports projects in the Mid-Atlantic states. (Facebook)
Please consider supporting students and teachers through any of these Giving Pages, or take the plunge and start your own!
