feature stories
Educators just want to have funds
Dec 6, 2007 3:50 AM
There’s money for your classroom projects — thanks to DonorsChoose.org
Roll out the educational carpet: Daisy Ramirez, engaging kids in a word game on a comfy new calendar-rug, is one of the teachers at Brooklyn’s PS 1 to get a total of $6,000 for projects in one year.
Sounds like a plan: Student organizers, school trips, an eraser-cleaning machine for a dust-free classroom where many kids are asthmatic — Halli Moskowitz of Manhattan’s PS 171 made it happen.
They’re raving about it all over town. Oprah Winfrey is raving about it.
At first teachers thought it seemed too good to be true.
“But this is for real. I was incredulous,” said Steve Oszust of Gateway HS in the Bronx.
“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me as a teacher,” said Ramona Diaz of PS 225 in Queens. “Everyone is eligible.”
“I’ve had eight classroom projects funded so far,” said Dara Franco of PS 60 on Staten Island.
“I’ve totaled over $13,000 for my projects!” said Halli Moskowitz of Manhattan’s PS 171.
“It’s fantastic,” said Nadine Reis of PS 1 in Brooklyn.
What’s the buzz all about?
DonorsChoose.org.
It’s a brilliantly conceived Web site where public school teachers can post one-page proposals and “citizen philanthropists,” as donors are called, can browse, find a project that appeals to them, and fund it with a tax-deductible donation.
Donors can range from partners in a Wall Street law firm to the guy next door, from a college kid making a donation in memory of her schoolteacher grandma to a family or group of employees fed up with all the Christmas madness and wanting to chip in for a meaningful gift to give to the world.
Seed money: Brooklyn PS 1 staff created a garden in memory of a student. Enjoying the garden are (from left) Nuala Pacheco, Chapter Leader Nadine Reis, Heather Morton, Ramirez and Lynette Cartagena.
Ouchless bookcases ...: Someone reading Cheryl Velazquez’s online proposal for new, sturdy, smooth-edged bookcases for her kids at CS 152 in the Bronx thought it was a great idea.
Donations can range from 10 bucks to the whole shebang — either a contribution toward a project or the needed amount to fund it in its entirety.
“I did a double take when I saw the e-mail congratulating me that my project was fully funded,” said Oszust, who captured $18,102 this year for the materials and equipment needed for his “Biotechnology Laboratory and Curriculum” project at Gateway HS. “I got a hold of as many teachers as I could to tell them about DonorsChoose.org. When I gave the news to the kids they were just champing at the bit to get started.”
This past summer, UFT President Randi Weingarten, Reis, UFT Staff Director Jeff Zahler and DonorsChoose.org founder and director Charles Best sat down and figured out how to strengthen the UFT-DonorsChoose connection. “This is a dream-come-true program,” Weingarten said. “I thank Charles for using his ingenuity and entrepreneurship to help educators help kids.”
… and accessible books: Not only was Velazquez aiming for a safe, comfortable reading corner for kids, but for space for books that had been in boxes and hard to get to.
CSI, the Bronx: Classes in forensics and bio-tech are a reality now at Gateway HS since Steven Oszust’s $18,000 proposal for lab equipment was funded.
Feel like Bill Gates
Whether a donation is big or small, “Citizen philanthropists can get as much choice and impact and feedback from recipients as Bill Gates when he’s made a million-dollar gift,” said Best, a former New York City public school teacher.
“DonorsChoose.org first gives you the opportunity to write a really quick thank-you by e-mail then and there when you get your congratulations,” said Chapter Leader Reis of PS 1. “Then in the regular mail you get a complete thank-you packet, including a disposable camera. You take pictures of the kids using the materials the donors funded. The kids write letters. They’re so incredibly moved that some stranger cares about them.
“Then you drop everything in the prepaid envelope and it goes back to DonorsChoose.
org,” Reis said. “They even develop the film, then forward it all to the donor. One of our teachers got a thank-you for her thank-you from her donor!”
Reis, one of whose projects was creating a school garden in memory of a student killed by a car just two days shy of his 7th birthday, said that the DonorsChoose.org Web site is so user-friendly “that your proposals practically write themselves.” [See box below for tips for a winning proposal.]
“All you need to add is imagination, to think of whatever you need to make students’ learning experience that much more special,” she said.
Reis recently got funds for a refrigerator for a pre-K cooking class. “A Night at the Museum” was one of eight projects that Franco got funded over the past four years. For three different projects, Diaz got funding for yoga mats and cushions, art supplies, and building blocks. Moskowitz now has computer tables, happy kids enriched by class
32 Kids and Dice,Oy the Noise!: That was the title of one of Moskowitz’s first proposals, which garnered her “large foam dice to replace the tiny ones that drop all the time and drive a teacher crazy!”
Cool stuff …: One of Ramona Diaz’s winners for PS 225 in Queens was “Building Blocks for Social Success.” As kids build together, with help from Diaz (left) and paraprofessional Mayra Padilla, they build social skills.
The kindness of strangers: Thanks to “citizen philanthropists” browsing DonorsChoose.org, teacher Dara Franco of Staten Island’s PS 60 has had eight projects funded over the last four years and has three new projects posted. above: Franco works with materials that make math fun.
…for hot ideas: Diaz (left, with Chapter Leader Evelyn Negron), wrote clear, persuasive proposals for materials needed to enhance learning for kids with autistic tendencies.
Franco, kids and colleague James Schlachter enjoy reading time in the print-rich, well-stocked library corner.
“I did a double take when I saw my e-mail,” said Oszust (above right). “When I found out all the money came from Bergdorf Goodman’s employee holiday campaign, I went there, thanked the right people and told them what their money was going to do. Then I got a hold of as many teachers as I could to tell them about DonorsChoose.”
How to hook a donor
Below are pointers from DonorsChoose.org Director Charles Best, who was awarded the UFT’s Audrey Chasen Award on Nov. 4 at Teacher Union Day. “Winning the award was winning a seal of approval from one of the most important groups in the country,” Best said. “The UFT’s good opinion will enable us to help that many more students because so many teachers will hear about it.”
1. A catchy title can’t hurt.
2. Projects that cost less than $500 have a significantly higher chance of success.
3. Scratch the jargon! Donors don’t care if you have grant-writing experience. Speak from the heart in plain language about a learning experience you want to provide.
4. Focus on the student learning that will take place. Better than “the computer is old and we need a new one” is “I want my students to learn how to share their work electronically and to do that we need a new computer.”
Charles Best
