5 Best Teacher Donation Sites
Crowdfunding for the Classroom
Here at SignUp, we LOVE teachers – they make a huge impact on our kids’ lives everyday with their knack for knowledge and never-ending patience (am I right?). There are countless ways they give and give, and often this giving comes from their own pockets – on average, teachers spend $478 of their own money every year to get their students the supplies and materials needed for actual learning.
Teachers need help funding basics like school supplies and classroom learning materials, and big stuff like science equipment and tablets. Show up and show some support for your teachers – check out these five teacher donation sites and help them get the gear they need for a fantastic year.
Pro Tip: If you are a parent helper or someone with teacher friends, be sure to share this article with them!
With Teacher Donation sites, teachers can set up specific lists of what they need and then engage parents, extended friends and family circles, and even good-hearted folks across the country wanting to support classroom needs. Many sites even have corporate sponsors’ grants and matching funds available, and make it easy for donors to search and find the teacher or school they want to support. Here are some popular teacher donation sites that you can consider to help your teachers get what they need!
A national nonprofit, AdoptAClassroom.org was founded in 1998 as one of the original crowdfunding websites, provides an easy-to-use platform for donors to adopt a K-12 classroom (public, private, and charter schools) – and it’s totally FREE for teachers to use, plus they keep 100% of the donations made to them! Each teacher simply registers and sets up their classroom fundraising page, then shares the unique link to the classroom’s page with his/her community and asks them to spread the word. Friends, family, neighbors, other community members, and general do-gooders can make donations directly to the teacher’s account.
From simple art and recess supplies, to classroom book sets, complex chemistry kits and Chromebooks, DonorsChoose is a popular education crowdfunding platform where teachers create projects for their classrooms and request funding for the supplies and resources they need. Teachers set up their donation page with specific requests, and then send a link for friends and class families to share. Visiting donors can also browse projects by zip code, school, subject, grade, price, and other factors. Many corporate and nonprofit sponsors have set up matching grants to double (or more) the impact of donations. Feel Good Bonus: Teachers (and often their students) send heartfelt thank you notes via the system when donations are complete.
Established in 2010, GoFundMe is one of the most widely-used and recognized platforms in the world for crowdfunding specific projects and campaigns. The platform allows teachers to create fundraising campaigns for their classrooms, share their stories in detail, and request funding for particular needs like classroom supplies, books, technology, and field trips. Like other crowdfunding sites, GoFundMe makes it easy to rally support for the campaign via social media, email, and text with a simple link share – PLUS, the organization employs a dedicated team that looks for amazing stories to share and amplify via media and their own networks.
A “100% no fee” fundraising platform, PledgeCents was founded in 2014 by a former teacher who wanted a more effective way to raise those much-needed funds for classrooms and students (love this!). PledgeCents relies on corporate partners to sponsor campaigns that cover operating costs (smart!). So, the organization’s primary focus is on supporting education-related initiatives like classroom projects and supplies, technology needs, reviving school programs, equipment and uniforms for teams or clubs, and field trips. Like other crowdfunding platforms, donors can browse and choose the projects they want to support.
Use a free online SignUp to easily create a classroom wish list of specific items needed for the classroom – donors just select and sign up for what they’d like to donate, then send it to school with their student or drop it off at the school office. SignUp also offers simple group money collection via PayPal and Stripe.
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