DonorsChoose.org & Mrs. Joosten's 2nd Grade

I recently had the opportunity to hear Charles Best, a philanthropist and entrepreneur, who is the founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org, speak at a conference. DonorsChoose.org is a crowdfunding platform for K-12 teachers serving in US schools. At the end of his keynote session, he gave each attendee a $30 gift card to use on the site to fund a project of our choosing. I selected Mrs. Joosten's 2nd grade class from the Ulysses Byas Elementary School in nearby Roosevelt, NY. Her students were in need a class set of carpet squares and a set of enjoyable books. I just received notification that this project is fully funded. Hooray! This project will reach 24 students who live in an extremely impoverished, underprivileged school district, not too far from Mepham High School.

This was my first experience with DonorsChoose.org and I loved it! You get to pick from thousands of projects from school districts near and far. The person asking for the donation gives you a description of the student population and the project. On the site, you can see exactly where and how your donation is spent. To see the details for Mrs Joosten's request click here.