This Thanksgiving, give back by investing in a K-12 classroom project
Mr. Kim is the Chief Operation Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for Kirr
Marbach & Co. LLC, an investment adviser based in Columbus IN. Please visit
www.kirrmar.com <www.kirrmar.com> .
Being a public schoolteacher in the richest country on the planet is a daily
struggle, even in non-pandemic times. It’s widely acknowledged there’s no
profession more important to our society than teaching and preparing our
children for adulthood, but at the same time there’s no profession that’s as
monetarily undervalued. Insufficient government funding causes teachers to
have to routinely dip into their own wallets to pay for basic supplies
(average $500 per year), let alone classroom learning projects.
Yet nothing changes.
I’ve written about how the “K-Shaped” recovery from the
pandemic has widened the economic gap between the “haves” and the
“have-nots.” Unfortunately, the same phenomenon has similarly exacerbated
the disparity in educational resource availability between the relatively
few wealthier school districts and the far more numerous poorer districts.
Fortunately, there is something you can do to directly
invest in a classroom and help bridge the gap.
In 2000, Charles Best was a 25-year-old history teacher in
an impoverished Bronx high school. Standing at Kinko’s at 5 A.M. making
copies of “Little House on the Prairie” for his students, he thought of
applying the then-nascent concept of “crowdfunding” to help teachers get
basic classroom supplies.
A son of privilege and living at home, Best funded
development of a rudimentary website and convinced 10 colleagues to post
projects. Unsure of the concept, he secretly funded nine of the projects
himself (a relative funded the other one). During lunch hours, he would
call journalists, philanthropists and foundations trying to drum up interest
and support.
Best founded DonorsChoose <DonorsChoose> (www.donorschoose.org
<www.donorschoose.org> ), a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, on
the belief that people would donate to public school classrooms if they
could see exactly where their money was going. “Trust and Transparency”
remain DC’s guiding principles. Indeed, DonorsChoose has earned the
“Highest Rating” from charity evaluators Charity Watch, Charity Navigator
and Guidestar.
After a slow launch, with education reform becoming a hot topic and
DonorsChoose offering a unique way to apply technology to philanthropy,
funders and the media began to embrace the concept. Oprah Winfrey named
DonorsChoose one of her “ultimate favorite things” and board member Stephen
Colbert asked his fans to support DonorsChoose (see his 90-second video
DonorsChoose vets each submitted project. Approved projects are posted to
the website with a description and detailed cost breakdown. Donors know how
every penny will be spent. DonorsChoose collects the donations and
purchases and ships the supplies (not the $$$) to the teacher once the
project’s funding goal has been reached. Donors can screen on criteria
including type of project, age group, amount needed and geographic location.
Donors receive photos of the project and hear back directly from the
teachers and students they’ve helped.
Since inception, DonorsChoose has raised over $1 billion from 4.6 million
donors and funded 1.8 million projects submitted by 617,260 teachers from
85,043 public schools. While those numbers are certainly impressive for a
relatively young charity, they don’t convey the impact donors have on
individual classrooms, teachers and students.
Here in Columbus, IN, the Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation
(“BCSF”) has partnered with DonorsChoose to help in its mission to “provide
innovative opportunities for teachers and students to excel.” Before,
teachers would submit grant requests, which were considered according to
BCSF’s grants cycle. This proved to be cumbersome. In addition, community
members expressed a desire to directly impact individual classrooms.
According to BCSF Executive Director Suzi Bruin, “as we
searched for ways to meet educator needs quickly and open doors for
community support, DonorsChoose offered the solution to both. Teachers no
longer have to wait for a specific grant cycle and donors can directly
impact a classroom at any time they choose.”
BCSF has responded by maximizing charitable gifts by
matching donations dollar-for-dollar (up to $500 on a project request up to
$1,000 from a Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation teacher). You can
see these project requests by going to “Find a Classroom to Support” on the
DonorsChoose website and searching on “Columbus, IN.”
Retailers have responded to the pandemic by declaring an
early start to “Black Friday” sales. If you’re like me, you don’t need more
stuff. In this season of giving thanks, be a champion for the power of
giving back by supporting K-12 teachers and students facing the toughest
learning challenges in a generation by funding a classroom project on
DonorsChoose.
Do this and you will help empower the voices that will shape
our tomorrow.