mail this InsideTeaching entry to a friend
11 February 2005: A Great Idea and About Time (2 of 3)
First, Donors Choose takes the load off of the teachers. Where traditional systems require extensive grant-writing, committee work and the resulting neglect of other classroom responsibilities, Donors Choose requires teachers write a one page proposal. That’s it. Just one page describing what they want to do (field trip, purchase books, art supplies), and the amount they need to fund the project.
Truly, I know a few teachers who are willing to put out significant effort to collect contributions of money and resources for their classrooms. Posting on community boards, in addition to the traditional grant-writing has been effective for some. But this? Who doesn’t have time to do this? Heck, have the kids go online and do it themselves!
Then, on the other end, you’ve got the donors. Jonathan Alter of the New York Times a suggests that in many cases, charitable giving is decreasing because it is somehow unsatisfying to write a check and have no idea how that money was used. Donors Choose certainly addresses that.
|
