Different donors look for different things when selecting a project to support. Some look for teachers they know, others look for classrooms in their hometown. Many of you however, want your money to go where it is needed most. We display “poverty level” on project pages to give donors a sense of the challenges the students at that school face.Poverty level is determined by the percentage of the school’s students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. When this is true of 40-64% of students, we mark the school as “high poverty.” Schools at which more than 65% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, are noted as “highest poverty.” When data about free lunch rates is unavailable or unreliable, we’ll write “Poverty Data Unavailable.”We use free lunch qualification because it is considered a measure of economic need. To be eligible for free lunch, a student’s family income must be within 130% of the poverty line (a max of $29,055 for a family of four) and within 185% of the poverty line for reduced lunch (a max of $41,348 for a family of four).We hope including this information will help donors make informed decisions about the projects they select.
