Ms. Pawlin, the Reading and English teacher for all grades, in December, was lucky enough to have three separate projects to get funded on DonorsChoose.org. This is a crowdfunding site that is meant for teachers to help get supplies needed for their classrooms and for their students.

Donors from all over the United States can donate, either using their actual names, or anonymously, and they can donate however much they choose.

The first product she asked for was a SmartBoard, totaling $8700.00.

The second project requested (2) 27-inch monitors, a new keyboard, and an iPad totaling $990.The third project she set up was for a new desktop computer because the one in the classroom was very outdated and would lag very often due to the disk space being too full. This also included 2 new Galaxy tablets. The project came to a total of $1300.00.

 Ms. Pawlin was lucky enough to have 3 projects funded before the end of 2020. The supplies arrived within 2 weeks of her returning to school and the transition with distance learning has been very smooth!

A few years ago Ms. Pawlin was searching for an organization that donates supplies to teachers and she found DonorsChoose.

For her, teaching before the new equipment was good, but in general, as she can be. She tried her best to make learning fun and interactive. But since the pandemic, she had to get even more creative with engaging lessons through distance learning.

Ms.Pawlin knew she wanted a SmartBoard and having multiple monitors made organizing Google Classroom and her daily workload easier. She can monitor her students better since the monitors are bigger now. 

 After getting the new equipment, learning transformed in the classroom. Her students are able to interact with their passages, watch educational videos on the SmartBoard, see what everyone is posting through the applications, and students can even see the materials better.

  The requirements are that you have to actually be a teacher! You will have to write thank you letters and provide pictures of the uses with your items, but that’s a way of saying how much you appreciate the donations and to let the donors know that they are actually using their materials for education. “You have to create a project, create a profile, describe why you need the materials and what for, and wait,” said Pawlin. Donors know exactly what they are donating for and the money does not go to the teacher. It goes to the vendors who are fulfilling your order. 

  DonorsChoose is a website for teachers to get their projects funded. “There are a lot of people out there who want to donate to teachers for everything that they do,” said Pawlin. Donations are even more abundant because of the COVID-19 virus. This is the perfect time to put in a request for materials, teaching software, and other goodies to help your students learn.

 The time it takes to hear back from DonorsChoose depends on the donors. If you have a good enough project page and profile page (about the school), donors will be more likely to donate. The fastest Ms.Pawlin heard back was 1 week. The longest wait was 7- 8 months. The more expensive your project, the longer it takes to get funded. The smaller projects usually get found very quickly.