I was introduced to the Donors Choose website in 2004. A teacher at my school did a short presentation about Donors Choose to share some children's books she had received for her first grade class. I was hooked. Whenever I received catalogs from my favorite educational companies - Lakeshore, Kaplan, Really Good Stuff - I flipped through them and eagerly marked off all the fabulous books, materials, resources, furniture, and supplies I just had to have. Of course, in the end, reality set in and I realized that apparently these companies thought they had mailed these catalogs to CEOs and multi-millionaires who could actually afford these items. For example, the whole group, multi-color carpet I absolutely loved cost more than every carpet in my house... combined.
That night I went home and immediately wrote a proposal and uploaded it to Donors Choose. I think I checked my proposal everyday to see if it had been funded or not. After three months, and some time researching other proposals that had been fulfilled, I realized I had made two key mistakes. (1) My proposal was way too long. Although I wanted to describe in great detail my students and how these items would enhance my instruction, potential donors did not necessarily want to read a dissertation when trying to share their money. (2) My proposal was too way too expensive. I had piled several items together and combined with the fee Donors Choose adds to each proposal (to cover their operational expenses) it was more than most donors wanted to spend. Although Donors Choose allows multiple donors to combine their donations to fund your project, I have found most donors would rather fund something entirely than only partially fund it.
That spring I was moved from fourth grade to teaching Kindergarten for the following year. That summer I sat down and identified a variety of materials, resources, and supplies from different companies that could help to make my classroom a better place for my students. Learning from my past mistakes, I grouped less expensive items together and instead of writing one proposal I wrote several, short proposals that followed a pretty simple, but informative format.
The effort paid off. Within a few weeks I started getting emails saying my proposals were funded and when I arrived back to school there were boxes of materials waiting for me. Donors Choose basically allowed me to supplement my instruction with everything I wanted for my students but could not afford to do on my own. Over the past six years I have received an incubator, leveled readers, books for my library, math manipulatives, an art easel, a teaching easel, puzzles, center materials, and child-sized furniture, just to name a few.
To learn more about Donors Choose and how to create proposals you can either visit this guide or go to the Donors Choose website.
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