Tips for Donors Choose - Ms. Rachel Vincent

When a Donors Choose project is funded, it’s the best feeling! Here are a few tips for your next Donors Choose project.

Donors Choose is a website that allows people & companies to donate to public school projects. If you’ve never used Donors Choose before, there are several tutorials online on how to set up one up. Donors Choose is actually really good at walking you through the process.

Donors Choose Projects to Create

You can pretty much create a project asking for anything!! I would suggest you look at the types of projects already listed on Donors Choose to get some ideas. Here is a small list of ideas you could ask for:

Flexible Seating
Books for your Library
Furniture – rugs, shelves, tables, standing desks, etc.
Magazine Subscriptions
Technology – Chromebooks, Ipads, document camera, printer
Stem Project materials
School Supplies
Indoor Recess Games
Math Manipulatives
Science Materials

Get Donors Choose Projects Funded

Keep your cost low

Keep your costs low by creating $200 projects. Higher-priced projects are harder to get funded. For example, instead of writing a project for $1000 worth of books for your classroom library, break it down into smaller projects. Do small groups of books, such as a theme or series of books, and get those funded throughout the year.

One Item Projects

If you’re wanting to write a project for a big-ticket item, such as technology or classroom furniture, only include one item in the project. By keeping your costs lower, you’re more likely to get funded.

Match Offers

Donors Choose has companies that will match offers all the time. You can easily search to see what kind of projects have match offers on them and write one that fits the category. Companies will often offer matches to any donations, so anytime you see this, be sure to share out with friends and family!

Share on Social Media (friends & family)

Don’t be afraid to share with your friends and family on social media. My family and friends have funded my projects many times! You can also share your project with the families via email. Oftentimes, parents will share with grandparents who will donate to our projects. There are even Facebook groups dedicated to sharing and funding Donors Choose projects.

The final two tips for Donors Choose is to donate to your own project. This shows companies you are invested in your own classroom. I usually start each of my projects by giving $20-$25. I also encourage you to always have a project posted. There are times when companies and even celebrities (I’m looking at you, Steven Colbert) will fully fund projects in certain areas. This happened to me several times!