According to data gathered by The Journal, an education-technology newsmagazine, public-school teachers in the United States spent more than $1.33 billion out-of-pocket on school supplies and instructional materials during the 2009-2010 school year. Founded by Charles Best, a social-studies teacher from a Bronx public high school, DonorsChoose.org, helps to provide necessary materials to scarcely equipped public-school classrooms, while allowing donors to control where their charitable donations have impact. With today's campaign, a donation of $10 to G-Team gets you a gift card to help fund a choice of school projects in select states on DonorsChoose.org, with donations matched up to $500,000 by Chase.
To gather fuel for educational endeavors, public-school teachers post plans for specific classroom projects they would like to carry out on DonorsChoose.org with the items they require, ranging from violins for a music recital to microscopes for a biology-class experiment. Then donors can browse the website and donate any amount to projects that inspire them. After a project reaches its funding goal, DonorsChoose.org delivers the requested materials to the school, and donors, who all donated a $50 value, receive photos of the project, thank-you letters from teachers, and a cost report. Since it was founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org, featured on FastCompany.com and The Oprah Winfrey Show, has raised more than $91 million to fund 223,000 projects, which have affected more than 5 million students across the country.
Unlike traditional Groupon deals, G-Team campaigns typically don't offer you a "discount" or "savings." So "buyer" beware—when you click "Buy" to donate your time or money to a worthwhile G-Team cause, the only discount you may receive is 100% off free, priceless karma. Read more about G-Team.
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All donations will be matched up to a $500,000 total by Chase.
