Donors Choose Campaign: Donate to a School Project & Your Donation Will Be Matched

Budget cuts have forced teachers to look for alternatives to get the funds required to educate our children.  You can’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the news and not learn about a reduction in education funding.  I have personally seen how schools are in need of and can benefit greatly from donations and fundraisers.

I was introduced to a fantastic organization, DonorsChoose.org, by my favorite site for online coupons and deals, Savings.com.  Savings.com offered me the opportunity to receive a $25 code to donate to a project of my choice at DonorsChoose.org.  Of course, I jumped at the chance!

About DonorsChoose.org:

Approximately 40 percent of schools across the U.S. use DonorsChoose.org, an innovative online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need.  Public school teachers across the country post specific requests to support their classroom projects, ranging from pencils for a poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope slides for a biology class.  Visitors to the website decide which project they would like to support and DonorsChoose.org delivers materials to the school once a project reaches its funding goal.  DonorsChoose is a resource where teachers can request donations for learning materials and donors can choose which school or project they would like to donate too.

It was extremely difficult to select one project.  There are so many schools in need of funding that the choices were overwhelming.  I used the following suggested tips to help me navigate through the site:

• Get local Use our Location filter to find projects in your state or hometown.
• Get inspired What are you passionate about? The environment? Water color painting? A book you’re reading? Narrow projects by subject area, or search for what you care about in the keyword box.
• Get choosy Sort your search results by cost, poverty level, or popularity…whatever matters most to you.

I found 9 requests for donations in my city alone.  I finally picked the “Developing Life-Long Readers!” project in Chesapeake, VA. The donation amount was fairly close to being met since 4 others had already donated to the project.  I thought it would be beneficial to see one project almost fully funded.  Additionally, my 2nd grader is an avid reader and having his favorite books available in the classroom helped him tremendously.

Savings.com is also helping make your money go further when you give back to a school in need in the new year! Use the gift code “SAVINGS” any time between January 27th and February 24th on www.donorschoose.org/savings, and Donors Choose will match your donation up to $100.  If you’re looking to donate to a good cause, why not have your donation matched and double your money!

I decided to donate $25 in addition to the $25 promotional amount I was given.  Since my personal donation will be matched, I was able to contribute $75 for fourth grade reading booking!  It makes your day a little brighter when you’ve helped children accelerate in reading.

Head over to DonorsChoose.org to help fund projects for children to succeed.  Together we can make a difference.

Disclosure:  I was provided a $25 code from Savings.com to donate as compensation for writing this post.  All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.