Each summer, we take a moment to reflect on everything our community accomplished in the past school year. We send our School Year in Review to every teacher, donor, foundation, and corporate partner, and this year, we had more than ever to celebrate. Here are a few of our favorite moments from this year’s School Year in Review.
The Big Picture
255,247
classroom projects funded
766,519
citizen philanthropists mobilized
43,313
public schools reached
72,488
teachers with their first project funded
146,696
thank-you packages sent nationwide
We celebrated one million classroom dreams.
From the moment Ms. Pitts walked into school on January 25, it was clear the day would be anything but ordinary. Maybe it was the giant DonorsChoose.org boxes, or maybe it was the professional TV crew, but May V. Carrigan Intermediate School was singularly energized.Within just a few hours, Ms. Pitts and her peers were featured on Good Morning America, where they learned that all of their DonorsChoose.org projects were funded in celebration of the first million projects brought to life through DonorsChoose.org. For Ms. Pitts, that meant a class set of The Giver, so her students can explore this classic at their own pace.
"I'm still in shock that we were all fully funded on national television! My students can't wait to start our literature circles. Thank you isn't enough for all that you've provided for my students." —Ms. Pitts, "Please Give Us The Giver!"
To help teachers across the country celebrate their milestone, donations to every project were doubled. We're so grateful to the teachers (like Ms. Pitts!), donors, and partners who helped to bring these first million classroom projects to life, and to those already creating and giving to the next million dreams.
The public rallied to help teachers recover after natural disasters.
This fall, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma flooded schools across Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, and Hurricane Maria displaced thousands of Puerto Rican students. The moment the first reports came in, our team sprung to action, working with teachers on the ground to identify immediate needs while bringing together foundations, corporations, and donors looking for ways to help.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJLbL7wMoBA[/embed]
"Mrs. Haley, one of the many affected teachers, shared what the support means to her. "Words cannot describe how thankful I am for generous donors. Thank you so much for helping to restore normalcy to our classroom after Hurricane Harvey. Our community has lost so much and you've helped replace a piece of what was missing." —Mrs. Haley
Through a combination of grants from partners like the Rebuild Texas Fund and individual donations, our community has been able to support 750 schools impacted by disasters this school year, and continues to support the many schools on the long road to recovery.
$9 million
raised for disaster recovery
5,612
recovery projects funded
2,657
teachers in affected areas helped
Ripple made March 28, 2018 the #BestSchoolDay yet.
On March 28, we partnered with Ripple, a San Francisco-based company that uses blockchain technology to facilitate international payments, to fund every single classroom project on our site in one $29 million swoop.[embed]https://www.facebook.com/DonorsChoose/videos/1365698766908204/[/embed]Education advocate and DonorsChoose.org Board Member Stephen Colbert kicked off the celebration on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.Ripple's #BestSchoolDay donation caused quite a buzz, with outlets like the New York Times and Fast Company celebrating the impact for education. And this donation brought awareness of DonorsChoose.org to a whole new group of teachers: Since March, teachers have been creating project requests at higher rates than ever before.Thank you for an incredible school year! See the full report.
