Where to Go When Your Budget Says No

Ed Leadership - Double Take

Schools may want to check out the following online-based philanthropies that provide small grants and financial help for schools, classrooms, and teachers to purchase supplies they can't afford:

• www.donorschoose.org
  Public school teachers post classroom project requests on the site. Potential donors can browse requests and give any amount to the one that inspires them. Once a project reaches its funding goal, Donors Choose delivers the materials to the school.
• www.iloveschools.com
  This nonprofit online donation center connects new, used, and in-kind resources with schools. Donors select the classrooms that will receive their donation and say how much the center can use to cover its administrative costs.
• www.digitalwish.com
  This organization develops new online tools and promotions that help teachers get new technology for their classrooms. Since August 2009, Digital Wish has granted more than 24,000 classroom technology wishes and delivered more than $10 million in technology products to U.S. classrooms.
• www.adoptaclassroom.org
  A donor selects a classroom and makes a contribution for the teacher to purchase needed resources. Donors may search for classrooms by geographical area, school name, teacher name, or other search criteria. If a donor has no preference, Adopt-A-Classroom partners the donor with an underserved classroom in the community.