Crowdfunding
Curriculum
Reading Rainbow Kickstarter Raises Over $5 Million, With 100,000-Plus Backers
After one month of powerhouse fundraising, the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter project ended Wednesday, breaking a Kickstarter record for number of contributors in the process.
Curriculum
Crowdfunding Kickstarts Book Projects
Kickstarter, the popular crowdfunding site for creative projects, has fostered innovative storytelling methods that could soon find their way into classrooms.
Federal
Donors Choose Targets Storm-Affected Schools
Heads up if you're in the storm-ravaged Northeast (or if you know a teacher who is): Donors Choose, the nonprofit that collects donations to support classroom projects, has a launched an effort to connect donors with teachers in schools that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. Teachers can get more information here.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Schools Tap Into Online Fundraising to Expand Budgets
Nonprofit and for-profit online fundraising companies work with schools to help them raise money for programs and services.
Education Funding
DonorsChoose: There's a (Winning) App for That
DonorsChoose, the online charity for classrooms, recently announced the results of its Hacking Education Contest, which challenged developers to create interactive apps to help engage the public in classroom projects. The winner—selected by judges Arianna Huffington, venture capitalist Fred Wilson, and TFA's Wendy Kopp—was Michael Nutt of New York City, who developed the DonorsChoose Signature. Rather elegant in its simplicity, the app dynamically adds urgent classroom projects from the DonorsChoose database to users' e-mail signature lines. Other contest finalists are shown here.
Teaching Profession
"Waiting for 'Superman'" and DonorsChoose Link Up
The controversial documentary "Waiting for 'Superman'" comes out on DVD Feb. 15—and for every purchase, DonorsChoose.org has agreed to give $25 to a classroom project listed on its website, reports The Washington Examiner. DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that connects teachers in need of classroom resources with people who want to contribute. The teachers fundraising, most of whom are in high-poverty schools, usually request a few hundred dollars for materials such as journals or microscopes.
Education Funding
Opinion
DonorsChoose On The Colbert Report
Last night's Colbert Report interview with the founder of Craigslist included much discussion of DonorsChoose.org, the organization that links donors and individual classrooms directly:
Education Funding
Opinion
Micro-Donations Go Macro
DonorsChoose, the innovative online outfit that matches up small donors (often individuals) with classroom projects, is going national this year, having experienced tremendous growth and success in Chicago, New York, and...some other places. Click below for some of my previous posts (from the old blog). Iif any of you have any experiences or thoughts about DC, feel free to weigh in. Congrats to the DCers. Keep on making the old school education foundations sweat. Can Micro-Donations Make The Difference?