Mission:
To inspire and collect the stories of private citizens engaged in improving their local public schools.

Background:
Once Upon a School was developed in response to a wish by author (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) and publisher Dave Eggers, a winner of the 2008 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) prize. Each year, three individuals are granted a wish at the TED conference — $100,000 in seed money and the support of the TED community — to help make their request "to change the world" come true. Eggers wished was for more individuals and organizations to become engaged with their local public schools.

Outstanding Web Features: Visitors to the Once Upon a Story site can read stories about people and organizations that are working to connect the private sector with public schools; submit their stories; and sign up to volunteer through the VolunteerMatch site. Videos submitted to Once Upon a School are hosted on Vimeo, a free video-sharing site that allows users to comment and share content on other sites. Visitors to the site can also watch Eggers' TED talk, make a donation to the organization, and subscribe to a number of RSS feeds.