Mission:
To help teachers provide their students with activities that school funds do not cover. At the DonorsChoose Web site, teachers describe student projects and the required materials, and civic-minded individuals choose projects to fund.

Background:
Charles Best, a high school teacher in the Bronx, launched DonorsChoose during the 2000-2001 school year to match donors with teachers who have developed classroom projects but lack the funds to implement them. Before accepting a proposal, DonorsChoose staff and volunteers verify the teacher's identity, find out if the requested materials are available, negotiate discounts, and review the proposed student project. If a proposal is funded, DonorsChoose purchases the materials, delivers them to the school, and collects thank-you notes from students and their teacher for the donor. Since its inception, DonorsChoose has received about 3,500 proposals from nearly 2,500 teachers in more than seven hundred schools in New York City. It has received more than $780,000 in funding for 1,600 of these projects, serving thirteen thousand students. DonorsChoose plans to expand nationwide, starting with North Carolina in early 2004.

Outstanding Feature:
Prospective donors can search proposals by discipline (arts, athletics, humanities, and sciences), age level (kindergarten through adult), amount of funding needed, and keyword. For those who would like to narrow their search even further, an advanced search page allows visitors to focus on particular areas within disciplines, select the type of resources they would like to provide (books, trips, etc.), and identify projects based on students' economic need. Teachers seeking funds through DonorsChoose must register at the site to create an account for drafting, saving, and submitting proposals.