Blog

Snowflakes are just beginning to land, and the holiday gift-giving spirit has arrived at Lands’ End. Earlier this month, Lands’ End generously funded all classroom projects near their Wisconsin corporate office, and starting today the company will distribute $25 DonorsChoose.org gift cards to thousands of customers nationwide, totaling more than $100,000 in donations!

“Together, with these donations, Lands’ End and our customers will help hundreds of thousands of students get more out of their classes. We love giving and love the fact that we’re also helping our customers by supporting education and building strong schools,” said Chris Kolbe, brand president for Lands’ End.

Check out their “Love Giving” initiative and help us share our thankfulness with Lands’ End!

Fast Company Magazine named DonorsChoose.org one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World this year alongside companies like Apple, Google, Netflix—the first time a charity has made the list. GOOD Magazine highlighted DonorsChoose.org as one of 30 Places We Want to Work.

We are always searching for top talent to join our team, and we value referrals from those who know us best. Starting this month we’re asking DonorsChoose.org teachers to help us recruit the best and brightest to our staff, and we’ll give you a $1,000 in DonorsChoose.org gift card if your referral is successfully hired!

HOW?

1. Teachers – Sign Up to receive email alerts on our full-time job openings throughout the year.
2. View our current openings and share these and future job descriptions with your network. Encourage qualified candidates to apply and identify you in their cover letter.
3. If someone you referred is successfully hired for a full-time position, we’ll give you a $1,000 DonorsChoose.org gift card!

FINE PRINT:

• Only full-time positions are eligible for the reward (not internships or temporary/part-time positions)
• $1,000 gift card will be given for a successfully HIRE. If a teacher gets 5 people to apply for a position but none are ultimately hired, the teacher will not receive the $1,000 gift card .
• Your referrals should indicate your name in the cover letter. In addition, we’ll be sure to ask each applicant we speak with how they learned about the position. Please do not contact our Customer Service team to inquire about the status of candidates you referred as we’re unable to provide individual updates. If your referral is hired, rest assured that we’ll happily contact you regarding your $1,000 gift card!

Guest Blog Post: Kerry Folan, Creator TeacherLove.org

What makes a good teacher?

It’s not a question that’s easily answered.

I’ve been collecting personal stories about good teachers at TeacherLove.org for the past year. These stories are alternatively funny, heart-breaking, poignant, sweet, or inspirational, and in them I’ve discovered as many different definitions of what it means to be a good teacher as there are people writing them.

“Believe me, MacBeth is not an easy play to connect to the lives of suburban high schoolers,” writes award-winning author Dave Eggers  about his high-school English teacher. “But somehow Mr. Criche made the play seem electric, dangerous, relevant.”

“My father was a coal-miner with a tenth-grade education,” writes Cathy Parker.  “Most teachers treated me like I didn’t have a chance at graduating, let alone going on to college. Mr. Walling saw that my dad encouraged my love of science and my mom spent hours supplementing my education.”

In my own life, among many others, there was Mrs. Strnad, a social studies teacher who brought such passion and humor to the classroom that at 12 years old, I declared to my parents my earnest intention to become an Egyptologist.

How could any of us have known at the time that these lessons would be the defining ones, the ones we would carry with us well into adulthood and rely on in our continued, complicated, grown-up search for who we are as people? We couldn’t. But they were.

Teaching is hard work, and teachers work hard at their jobs. But as in any profession, hard work isn’t the final measure of success. Nor, I’ve come to think, are test scores, yearly progress reports, or any other graphable measurements. An education comprises unquantifiable experiences: moments of curiosity, inspiration, and pride. More often than not, a good teacher is the force behind these moments.

Teachers touch their students in a million unexpected ways. The DonorsChoose.org community knows this. If you are reading this blog post, you are a member of the DonorsChoose.org community and must care an awful lot about education. You probably believe, like I do, that a good teacher is a powerful force. You may even be one of those very special teachers who has spent your own precious free time writing DonorsChoose.org classroom requests on behalf of your students, trying to secure for them the resources you know are necessary for their education. And you probably have your own Mr. Criche, or Mr. Walling, or Mrs. Strnad.

If you do, we would love to hear your story. Honoring these educators and recognizing their creativity, patience, and dedication is a reminder to us all that a good teacher, in the end, is one that stays in our hearts and minds forever.

Submit a story about a teacher that has made a difference in your life to TeacherLove.org.

Great news teachers and donors! Disney’s Planet Challenge is partnering with DonorsChoose.org for the THIRD year in a row to support teachers submitting hands-on classroom projects aimed at helping the environment. Disney’s Planet Challenge is a fun, free and highly-acclaimed project-based environmental competition for 3^rd-8^th grade classrooms across the US, and to date they have funded over $650,000 in classroom projects focused on the environment!

Thanks to Disney’s Planet Challenge, 3^rd through 8^th grade teachers who submit an eligible classroom project to DonorsChoose.org will receive “Double Your Impact” funding! This means that hands-on environmental projects, costing $1000 or less (including all fees and the optional donation), submitted to DonorsChoose.org no later than December 1^st will receive 50% funding from Disney Planet Challenge, once other donors choose to fund the rest of the project.

Additionally, teachers that register for Disney’s Planet Challenge by December 18^th and submit a qualifying project to DonorsChoose.org will receive full project funding! How awesome is that?!

To participate in Disney’s Planet Challenge, teachers must register here by December 18, 2011. In addition to the regular DonorsChoose.org thank you process, teachers will be asked to complete this project with your class and submit the results to Disney by February 16, 2012. Teachers will receive an incredible experience while students turn into dedicated caretakers of the Earth!

Visit DonorsChoose.org/teachers to submit your DonorsChoose.org project today!

This Thursday, dozens of New York City men will begin a four week journey to help thousands of students in need by growing sweet, sweet ’staches.

Interested in growing? Join us Thursday for “Shaving Day”, the official kick-off of the 2011 Growing Season. Mustache Growers and Enthusiasts alike are encouraged to attend!

When: Thursday, November 10th at 7 pm

Where: The Half Pint, 76 West 3rd Street

See you there!