[Vision2020] donorschoose.org

[Paul Rumelhart]

I went to a conference a couple of weeks ago and one of the keynote speakers was the guy that founded the donorschoose.org website.  This is a website where school teachers can post requests for funding for various specific items for specific purposes, and people can donate to those projects.  Kind of a mix between a normal charity and something like kickstarter.  The guy who founded it (and whose name I have promptly forgotten) came across as very sincere, and very dedicated to his cause.  He had an interesting story of how he built the website and got the whole idea moving.  One of those people who came across as very caring and down-to-earth.  Instead of accepting speaking fees, for instance, he had the company giving the conference give away $5 gift certificates to all the attendees so they could go to the website and donate to their favorite school or project. The thing I really like about the system they have is that they don't just cut the
 schools a check, they actually go buy the items that the schools are requesting and deliver them. 

So, naturally, I went looking for Moscow schools, and didn't find any projects from anywhere in the immediate area, except for one request for funding from a school in Lewiston.  I ended up donating my $5 (and some of my own money) to a project in St. Maries.  Does anyone know if teachers in Moscow (or Troy, or Deary, etc) are aware of this resource?  It looks like something some enterprising teacher might make use of.  It's a good way to get some extra funding from concerned citizens without having to go door-to-door or hold car washes or whatever.

If anyone has some contacts in the school district, could you forward this along?

Paul
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