DonorsChoose.org Double-Your-Impact Program
Provides More Than $100,000 for Oklahoma Schools
All Oklahoma Teacher Projects Eligible for Special Funding
Dear Oklahoma School Administrator:
As an organization that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma's public schools, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence wants to inform you about a unique online teacher grant program that is providing thousands of dollars to help support Oklahoma schools.
DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for educational materials or student learning experiences. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.
Recently, several foundations have made generous contributions to help double the impact of donors' gifts to DonorsChoose.org in Oklahoma. Double-Your-Impact is an offer from a foundation or company to fund 50 percent of any classroom projects that meet specified criteria.
"When a teacher submits a project on DonorsChoose.org that is eligible for Double-Your-Impact, the project will appear with the supporting foundation or company's logo," said Natalie French, associate director of DonorsChoose.org. "The funding activates automatically if other donors choose to join in and fund the rest of the project."
Currently, the Hille Foundation of Tulsa is providing funding to support projects from high-needs schools in Tulsa County. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is providing funds for all high-need and rural high school projects throughout the state.
The George Kaiser Family Foundation of Tulsa is matching the Gates Foundation grant for all high-need school projects in Tulsa, Bixby, Union, Owasso and Broken Arrow school districts that focus on advancing core subjects. This means that all projects meeting the criteria for the Kaiser Family Foundation funds will automatically be fully funded.
In addition, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation is sponsoring a Double-Your-Impact program for all Oklahoma projects that are not eligible for Hille, Kaiser and Gates funding.
With this generous funding of over $100,000 from Oklahoma donors and the Gates Foundation, all Oklahoma projects are currently eligible for the Double-Your-Impact program. The Double-Your-Impact program will continue until all grant funds have been awarded. Funding will apply to new projects that qualify as well as projects already submitted to the web site.
We encourage all Oklahoma teachers log on to DonorsChoose.org and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to submit a proposal. We also encourage state citizens to support their public schools by logging on to DonorsChoose.org and co-sponsoring an Oklahoma project that meets their charitable interests.
The goal of DonorsChoose.org is simple: to create a nation where students in every community have the resources they need to learn. We hope you will encourage teachers in your district to apply for this wonderful opportunity.
For more information or to register, visit the DonorsChoose.org web site at www.donorschoose.org.
Emily Stratton - Executive Director - Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence |
