Caring Classrooms Community on DonorsChoose

My friend Francie Kugelman is a DonorsChoose guru! If you read yesterday's guest blog post by Francie here on Corkboard Connections, you'll know exactly what I mean! She wrote a wonderful article about DonorsChoose Communities and how they've inspired her to become a donor as well as a recipient of classroom funding. Francie has received over $50,000 in classroom funding through DonorsChoose, and now she's giving back through her efforts to support other teachers' projects. Her article, Sometimes It Takes a Virtual Village, is just one more way that she's helping others.

Francie has been telling me about DonorsChoose communities for a few months, and when I read her article I understood why she's so excited about them. She knows I've been promoting projects and supporting teachers through my Fund-day Sunday initiative, so joining a DC Community is a logical next step for me.

After I posted the article, I realized that I wanted to do more than join a DonorsChoose Community - I wanted to start one! So that's what I've done! I named the giving page Caring Classrooms because teachers who post projects on DC obviously care about their students, and those who become community members show how much they care by donating. I also set up a Caring Classrooms page on Facebook where teachers can help and support each other, and where I can make announcements about projects that I'm adding to the page.

Would you like to become a member of the Caring Classrooms Community? It's easy! All you need to do is to make a donation, no matter how small, to at least one project on the page. Then "like" the community Facebook page to become an active member of the group. I'd also love it if you would help promote the community to others so we can support the classrooms whose projects are listed there.

Caring Classrooms and Fund-day Sunday
How can you get YOUR project added to my Caring Classrooms giving page? First, become a member by making a small donation to someone else's project that's on the giving page, even if it's only a few dollars. Then like my Teaching Resources Facebook Page and look for the call for projects that goes out on Sunday morning as a part of Fund-day Sunday. The message goes out at 8 a.m. EST and teachers can add their projects links under that post any time during the day on Sunday.

Then on Monday morning, I'll review the projects and choose at least two projects that each receive a donation from me. From now on, I'll also add those projects to my Caring Classrooms page where I can continue to promote them to help them get fully funded. I've decided to limit the number of projects featured on the giving page to no more than ten at one time so we can focus our energies on helping them to get funded. As projects get funded and move to the "Completed Projects" tab, I'll choose new ones to feature on the page.

Please remember that since I'm limiting the number of projects listed on the giving page, I won't be able to add all the projects posted on Fun-day Sunday. We often have over 75 projects posted so it would be impossible to add them all. Also, please don't post projects on my wall at any time other than Sunday because my wall will become swamped with project listings. It's a once-a-week opportunity!

I hope you'll join me in becoming a member of the Caring Classrooms Community on DonorsChoose. Over the years, I received several thousand dollars worth of funding for books and materials, and I felt truly blessed each time a project was funded. Now I'd like to give back by helping others experience the same success. I also love DonorsChoose because it demonstrates the value of both giving and receiving. My students benefited from the generosity of donors, and it inspired them to experience the joy of giving when we adopted a family at Christmas. Remember that your generosity will set a wonderful example and can really make a difference!