Donors Choose is a charity fundraising platform that makes it easier for public school classrooms to receive needed funding for projects, materials, and equipment.
Unlike other nonprofit organizations, Donors Choose does not directly release funds raised to school members. Instead, after the classroom or teacher has reached their project’s fundraising goal, Donors Choose ships the actual items needed to school, provides a report as to how the funds were spent, and sends photos of the project taking place.
For example, if a teacher needed to raise $500 to help buy updated science textbooks for their low-income classroom, the local community and parents could rally around this cause and help make it happen. In addition, strangers could donate to help the cause and make an impact in the lives of these children.
Donors Choose stands out from other charity organizations in that each project must hit it’s fundraising goal in order for the teacher to receive the requested supplies. If it does not, the donor’s account is credited with the amount that they gave, and they then have the option to donate these funds to a new project, send the teacher a gift card, or have the organization choose a new project for them.
Although almost 70% of projects are successfully funded, there are still ways to improve the chance that you will be not a part of that 30% that doesn’t. To improve the chance that you receive supplies for your classroom, check out some of our tips below.
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You should check it out if you want to get more donations and you want to fast-track the entire process.
1. Educate Parents and Community Members About The Website
In 2013, online giving grew by a staggering 13.5%, compared to a total charitable giving growth rate of 4.9% (source). Even though more and more adults are comfortable using the internet to process transactions, make purchases, and support causes, it’s still growing in mainstream acceptance.
Making sure that your students’ parents and the local community understand the benefits of Donors Choose and how to go about supporting a project in their local area is extremely important. I recommend creating a one-page simple overview that you can hand out, which explains how Donors Choose works.
When explaining, you can also mention that 1,676,282 supporters have used the website and helped 14,272,355 students. Knowing that other people are using online giving to enrich their local community will help to begin to build trust and support. While you’re at it, you can share the youtube video where Oprah featured the website here, which I’ve also embedded below.
2. Craft Your Story
Remember that not everyone browsing the Donors Choose website will fully understand the demographic of your school, why this project is important, why you need supplies, and how eager your students are about the learning process.
Using well-structured paragraphs, a photo of your students, and simply easy-to-understand sentence structure (read it out loud), will also help more supporters understand your mission and sympathize with your passion to give your students the best education possible.
This story will also help when you are doing email outreach (check out template emails here).
3. Engage Local Businesses
There are many different giving options ranging from monthly recurring giving to gift cards that local businesses can take advantage of to both make an impact in the community and develop more rapport with existing and potential customers.
However, many businesses won’t know about this option or the benefits unless they’re told! Handwritten notes from local school students are great way to show that they are different and care about the community. They can even put it on the inside wall of their business, and it only costs $50. Finally, they can elect to become a “partner” with Donors Choose (see here).
4. Develop a Two-Way Relationship
Even though a student’s parent has a vested interest in their education, it’s also nice that they know their efforts are appreciated! Be sure to emphasize that they can write you or the students a message when they donate, and that they can also receive back thank you cards, in addition to photos.
I think that it makes sense to even go a step further and thank parents via email or a handwritten note. Small gestures like this can go a long way over time!
I’ve put together a new GUIDE that’s packed with science-backed nonprofit fundraising methods, resources, strategies, and killer marketing methods.
You should check it out if you want to get more donations and you want to fast-track the entire process.
5. Write to The Local Paper.
If several of the teachers at your school are using Donors Choose to raise funding for their classroom projects, I think that could make a really interesting story for your local paper or TV station. Not only does it underline how the internet is changing the way that we can impact causes, but it also warms the heart and makes people want to give back, particularly around the holiday season.
“More than one-third (33.6%) of overall charitable giving happens in the last three months of the year, with the highest percentage (17.5%) coming in December. ” – Source.
