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Posted by Alicia on
Monday,
November 30, 2009 at 5:01pm
For the second year in a row, Chicago men will be growing some ‘stachtastic facial hair and teaming up with DonorsChoose.org to raise money for public schools in need. This year’s Mustaches for Kids (M4K) Chicago grow-a-thon kicked off with a shaving party on November 16th. Now that the playing field has been leveled, these brave men will compete to grow prize-worthy ‘staches, while raising pledges for innovative classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org. Follow the activity on the M4K leaderboard and watch us go head to head with other ‘stache-loving cities (San Francisco, watch your back, Chicago is throwing down in a big and hairy way this year!) www.donorschoose.org/m4k
For those of you thinking “I can’t grow a ‘stache, but I want to participate. How can I help support Mustaches for Kids Chicago and DonorsChoose.org?”….. Make a pledge to a grower’s page here and/or come join us at ‘Stache bash 2009 on Sunday, December 13th from 3-6pm at Schubas Tavern in Chicago. For more details visit: www.m4kchicago.org
The Mustaches for Kids New York City chapter has raised $47,000 so far this season. But our mustachioed heroes need YOUR help to beat their inspiring single-season fundraising record from last year – $80,996!!
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Posted by Nicole on
Tuesday,
November 24, 2009 at 3:56pm
The growing season is upon us and, this year, San Francisco has a title to defend. The city by the bay was not only raised the most total money of any city in the country, but it also is also the home of last year’s top overall fund raiser. Lest you think that the city is all green and no whiskers, it’s also the home of Wade Crowfoot, winner of last year’s Sweetest Stache Award at last year’s Stache Bash.
This year Wade is raising funds for Think College Now, an amazing Oakland-based elementary school that has received numerous awards and recognition since opening its doors in 2003. He has already reached an impressive $897 toward his goal of $3,474. Some people have been inspired by his last year’s Tom Selleck circa 1985 look, while others cannot wait for Wade to shave the thing off.
Wade contends that the secret to his success is his ever-present facial addition. Co-workers, friends and family are constantly reminded to donate every time they see his personal tribute to Yosemite Sam perched on his upper lip. Although Wade has found this year’s fundraising to be a bit more challenging than in past years, those who have been able to give have found DonorsChoose.org to be the best way to do it. Wade just completed his first project last night and has already received calls from donors who are thrilled with the appreciation of the teacher and the students.
Wades keeping mum on what character his mustache is taking on this year. Will it be the John Stossel, the Gene Shalit or the Charlie Chaplin? Inquiring minds want to know! He’s seen this year’s competition and sees a lot of promising rookie growers. But he relishes both the competition and the growing popularity of Mustaches for Kids.
UPDATE: This position has been filled, and we are no longer accepting applications. Thanks!
Position Overview: The East Region of the Partnerships & Development Team is tasked with delivering $4 million in resources into classrooms from South Carolina to Maine this school year. We work with companies, foundations and individual donors to achieve these goals. At any given time, our lean team of five staff is managing 150+ different partnerships and bringing thousands of donors to our website. This position is a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, fun, high-profile and rapidly growing organization that is changing the face of philanthropy and the education of students from low-income families.
Qualifications: The right candidate is motivated by our mission and by our entrepreneurial goals-driven culture. We seek a team player who is/has:
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
• College graduate and up to three years of work experience
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, focused, results driven, and motivated by project management
• Able to coordinate multiple projects simultaneously
• Strong with verbal and written communications
• A problem-solving orientation, a customer-service orientation, and strong analytical skills
• Comfortable with tasks relating to administration and office management
• Adept with Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel, and willing to learn new programs
• Desire to work in a fast-paced, startup-like environment with aggressive growth plans
To apply: Please email a resume and thoughtful cover letter, addressed to Katie Bisbee, to eastjob (at) donorschoose (dot) org. In your cover letter, outline how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position, state how you heard about this opportunity, and state your salary requirements. Include “East Region Program Associate” in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. No calls please.
CLICK HERE to see the full details on the Program Associate role.
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Posted by Kari on
Monday,
November 23, 2009 at 4:25pm
We’re proud to bring you the good news that our very own Charles Best, leader and founder of DonorsChoose.org, is currently featured in The New York Times’ “Room for Debate” forum. Charles weighed in with his philanthropic suggestions for Goldman Sachs, which announced this week that it was starting a $500 million charitable project to help 10,000 small businesses.
Charles’s commentary appears alongside the opinions of Matthew Bishop and Michael Green, authors of Philanthrocapitalism – who we posted a blog about last week – in addition to Robert Johnson, Nicole Gelinas, Naomi Prins, and Peter Firestein.
Nearly 9 years ago Goldman Sachs made an investment in DonorsChoose.org that provided the funds we used to build our website. Having once been in a similar position to the 10,000 potential small business recipients, albeit on the nonprofit side, Charles offered some advice to help Goldman Sachs succeed in its philanthropic effort: 1) determined people “can do very smart things with small sums of money,” and 2) Goldman Sachs should consider crowd-sourcing to choose the 10,000 beneficiaries. As we at DonorsChoose.org know well, when thousands of people weigh in collectively on decisions, both big and small, the best results usually emerge.
Baltimore is at it again. Last night, gentlemen across the city gathered at The Reserve to shave their faces clean and start growing Mustaches for Baltimore Kids.
One of the reasons why we love Baltimore so much is because they seem to get more excited than any other city about their Mustaches for Kids “Growing Season”.
And, check out this amazing email below from our Mustache hero, Dr. Andres Alonso, the CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools. He is absolutely the best:
From: Andres A. Alonso, Ed.D [mailto:Partners@bcps.k12.md.us]
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:44 PM
Subject: Mustaches for Kids
November 17, 2009
Dear City Schools Partners and Friends,
Sometimes, someone has an idea so simple, so full of goodness and common sense that you just have to stop and wonder, “How did somebody not think of it before?”
One such idea, which I first learned about last year from Bob Heck, a member of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, is the spark of genius of the great organization, DonorsChoose.org.
We know that our teachers have extraordinary creativity, and that the discretionary funds they receive for classroom projects don’t begin to do that creativity justice. So DonorsChoose.org had the idea to bring together worthy projects proposed by teachers—incredibly creative and unique—and the contributions of the general public—both great and small. Then DonorsChoose.org had another bright idea: to combine this pairing of projects and donors with a Mustaches for Kids (M4K) Challenge, in which “growers” from across the United States and Canada grow mustaches to raise money for kids.
So last year, City Schools teachers and I participated in the M4K challenge and collectively raised $24,500 from 310 sponsors for classroom projects requested by our teachers through Donorschoose.org. We ranked 5th out of 30-plus participating cities—behind Chicago ($29,356), Charlotte ($64,843), San Francisco ($78,389) and New York ($80,901). This year I’d like us to do even better. Yes, of course I’d like to beat New York. But more importantly, I’d really like to see us raise more money for our kids.
So this evening I am going home to shave and for the second straight year I will be briefly sporting my naturally handsome and youthful, clean-shaven face. Be assured, the real me will be back before winter sets in. But right now, the City Schools teachers who are joining me in this challenge and I need your help. Please sponsor my mustache—or, if you absolutely must, the mustache of a fellow City Schools grower—and fund a classroom project requested by a City Schools teacher through DonorsChoose.org.
Click here, and then click the name of your favorite grower. This takes you to a page where you can choose from a list of projects needing sponsors, and all you need to do is choose one and make a donation. DonorsChoose.org takes care of the rest. It sends your money to the project you choose, it keeps tally of how much we as a school system raise overall, and it tracks how we rank among the competition. And because this allows us to raise money from across the country for Baltimore City’s classrooms, I urge you to share this message with all of your colleagues, family and friends.
Between now and mid-December a number of members of the City Schools family and I will be coaxing and preening our whiskers to raise money for classroom projects across the city, and we want you in on the fun! Watch our stubble grow, and yes, teasing is fair game—as long as you give…
Thank you. And thank you for all you do to support our kids and our schools.
Sincerely,
Andrés A. Alonso, Ed.D.
CEO, Baltimore City Public Schools
Mailing Address:
Baltimore City Public Schools
200 East North Ave
Baltimore, MD 21202
US
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Posted by Candice on
Wednesday,
November 11, 2009 at 7:53pm
HP is teaming up with DonorsChoose.org again to support classrooms. When you purchase any HP product through the Create Change program between now and January 31st, HP will contribute 4% of the purchase to the charity of your choice, including DonorsChoose.org. That adds up to a lot of critical classroom materials for students!
So, as you think about buying upcoming holiday gifts, replacing ink cartridges (or if you are just looking for a cool new laptop for yourself), consider making your purchase on the HP Create Change site and giving back to schools! And don’t forget to tell your friends about this offer – there is even a spiffy widget that you can use to share this program with your friends, colleagues and family. Thanks so much HP for helping students and teachers get the resources they need to succeed!
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Posted by Julie on
Tuesday,
November 10, 2009 at 4:18pm
Thanks to the California Community Foundation and the FEDCO Charitable Foundation, DonorsChoose.org has a “Double Your Impact” offer for K-12 teachers in the following districts: ABC/Cerritos, Culver City, Norwalk-La Mirada or Pasadena Unified. The match offer is valid for hands-on, classroom projects or field trips requests for under $500 in resources that will help bring learning to life!
For this opportunity, we are looking for projects that include engaging and creative experiential learning activities, such as a hands-on math or science projects. Your project should increase student academic achievement in one of four areas: language arts, math, science or social studies and your essay should make these benefits clear. Priority will be given to projects that incorporate experiential learning that is linked to class curriculum or integrates community-related topics. Please note, NO requests for computer hardware or cameras will be considered.
Any project posted to DonorsChoose.org that meets these criteria will receive 50% funding via this offer once other donors choose to join in and fund the rest of the project. Funding will be spent on a first come, first served basis until the grants are spent out.
The FEDCO Charitable Foundation was created when the FEDCO chain of stores closed in 1999. More than $7 million was used to establish the FEDCO Charitable Foundation at CCF. CCF awards FEDCO Teacher Grants each year to fund hands-on, classroom projects or field trips that help bring learning to life. Grants range from $500 to $1,000 and support teachers of students in grades kindergarten through 12 in Cerritos, Culver City, Norwalk-La Mirada, Pasadena and Los Angeles Unified school districts.
CCF is L.A.’s foundation. It has been around since 1915 and has about $1 billion in assets. As the 53rd largest foundation in the nation, CCF grants out the second biggest proportion of its assets – 17 percent – among U.S. foundations. In fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, CCF granted $191 million as investments in the future of local communities. The foundation is known as one of L.A.’s most innovative investors in permanent, low-income housing and the biggest supporter of individual artists in the region. CCF is the largest scholarship fund manager in L.A., managing more than 150 scholarship funds worth $85 million, and it is a national leader in increasing services for returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. CCF holds more than 1,600 funds. To learn more, visit calfund.org.
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Posted by Candice on
Monday,
November 9, 2009 at 4:20pm
From November 12th through 15th, GAP stores (Old Navy, The GAP, Baby GAP, and Banana Republic) will be offering their customers the chance to make a difference for public schools – just by going shopping! During these dates, use this coupon to receive 30% off at all GAP stores: http://www.gapinc.com/giveandget/donorschoose/. You’ll then get to allocate 5% of what you spend to help public school teachers at DonorsChoose.org. Tell your friends and family! (Don’t forget to print the coupon before you shop!)
We’re thrilled to announce that Southern California teachers will once again be the recipients of proceeds from this year’s Dancescape (the tenth annual!) event on November 14th in Beverly Hills at the Aqua Restaurant & Lounge. This all-night event will feature more than 25 dance performances, with all proceeds donated to dance, art, and music projects posted on DonorsChoose.org. See projects that will benefit.
Dancescape features some of the top talent in the Los Angeles dance world from jazz to salsa to bollywood and everything in between. Previous shows have included Mandy Moore from the Fox Television show “So You Think You Can Dance,” finalists from “America’s Got Talent,” members of the Hysterica, MyoKyo, and blue13 dance companies, and professional dancers fresh from tours with megastars like Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson.
Confirmed acts include:
Andrea Ruiz * Alyssa Marrin * Benjamin Allen * bluethirTEEN dance co.
Boom Kat Dance Company * Brandi Krieger * Brockus Project Dance Company
The Broken Roses * Butter * Charlene Rose Dance Company * Dare to Dance
