** DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with Donors Choose in any way other than being a regular teacher who uses the site to get cool stuff for my classroom and this post contains information that I have gathered through research and expereince to be successful on the site. All opinions are my own. When I walked into my first classroom, there was lot of "stuff." Most of it was broken or inappropriate for my little ones with special needs. I was quickly told to make do because there was no money for "extras" in the budget. Then, I learned pretty much everything besides consumable art supplies was extra and even those were limited split between 5 Early Childhood classrooms. A lot of my grand first year teaching ideas went out the window. Overflowing, colorful sensory box...Gone. Kids learning through exciting and imaginative pretend play...Gone. While I was readjusting to ideas and dreams, my wonderful paraprofessional told me that the teacher before me had gotten some really cool supplies through Donor Choose. I did a Google search and over 30 funded projects later, I can truly say Donors Choose has helped me achieve some of my wildest teaching dreams. What is Donors Choose?Donors Choose is essential a crowdfunding site like Go Fund Me or Giving Tree, but for public school teachers. Any public school teacher can create a profile and start posting projects to get materials like paper, crayons, toys, sports equipment, or just about anything you can think of for your classrooms. You can also post projects for field trips and professional development opportunities. The process is simple and the site does an amazing job of walking you through everything. Donors Choose works with vendors like Lakeshore, School Specialty, Best Buy for Business, and Amazon so teachers can browse the sites and select materials for their classrooms. After the project is posted, donors from all over can search for a project by location, type, or specific needs. Projects remain on the site for 3 months or until they are funded. Once your project is funded, Donors Choose orders the materials and ships them to your school. Once you get your materials, you complete a thank you package to your donors that includes a digital Impact Letter, 6 photos of the materials in your classroom, and thank you cards. That sounds like a lot of work. Who has time for all that?Yes, it does take time to create projects and complete thank you packages, but in the grand scheme of my teaching day, week, or year, I spend very little time on Donors Choose. If it is a project I'm very passionate about or need quickly, I may spend more time sending my family and friends a quick e-mail or sharing my project on my social media accounts. The site also is so user friendly that once you set-up your classroom information, it migrates to each project you start so you don't have to keep rewriting those pieces. I have also developed tricks or "rules" that I follow that have increased my success over the years. So, what are your tricks or "rules"?My very first project I ever posted was not funded. It was for Hokki stools and I was very discouraged, but didn't give up. I started researching ways to be successful. I used a combination of data from the Donor Choose Impact Site and a few blog posts that I found at the time to create a set of "rules" for myself. Here are my top 5 tips or "rules" for success on Donors Choose:
1) Keep projects under $300 or break larger projects into several smaller projects if possible. The data shows that 80% of projects under $300 are fully funded and the success rate goes down sharply able that amount. 2) Don't be afraid to talk about your classrooms or schools struggles. If your classroom and school was a perfect educational wonderland, you would have everything you ever wanted and wouldn't need the site. My projects always include words like "low-income," "special needs," and challenges. I always follow every challenge with a positive though 3) Don't use too many teacher buzzwords or jargon. Back when I posted my Hokki stool project, these were a newer resource and the average donor didn't know what they were funding. Most donors want to be able to envision students using the materials as they are donating. 4) Be creative! Some of my fasted funded projects were for odd materials like diapers and wipes or a mini fridge and cooking supplies. While we all would love more technology in our classrooms, projects for iPads or ChromeBooks are everywhere and make yours hard to stand out. 5) Always have a project ready. You never know when there will be a mass funding. I have had close to 10 projects suddenly fully funded through some type of site-wide mass funding or special match day. Also, think about peak giving times like Christmas/ Year End, beginning of school and end of school. There is no guarantee when trying to crowdfund, but for me, it has been a game changer in my classrooms. Make sure to read Donors Choose's Terms of Use as well as check to see what your school or district's policies on donations/ crowdfunding are before you get started. After that, set-up your account and let you imagination start creating fun and exciting projects for your classroom or school!
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About MeHi! My name is Kelsey & I am a Special Education Teacher in WI. I love what I do & love sharing new ideas & awesome materials. When I'm not teaching, I'm enjoying being a Mommy, cooking, & being outdoors. Archives
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