All Americans should be interested in providing teachers with enough money to be able to equip their classrooms with whatever equipment they need in order to be able to do a good job. Donorschoose.org is a nonprofit organizations based in New York City that permits teachers in our public school systems to make funding requests in order to support their classroom projects.
Anyone wishing to donate to support classroom projects can search the Donorschoose.org website to identify projects they’d like to support. Those interested in the arts my donate paints and brushes to the classroom or perhaps have their money purchase new instruments for the band while someone interested in the sciences may decide to donate to purchasing new lab equipment for the classroom.
To better understand the role of DonorsChoose.org and how it helps teachers and students, you can read this story of how a special education teacher came on the scene to help a small town in Missouri recover from a tornado that killed 160 people and then a few months later went to Louisa, VA, to assist a community that was hit with a devastating earthquake. In both instances, the teacher educated faculty on how to use DonorsChoose.org to help them replace educational supplies that were lost in a matter of minutes through destructive natural disasters they had to face without any warning.
DonorsChoose.org has been featured on Oprah and even Michelle Obama has spoken on the valuable contributions this nonprofit organization has made to our public school system. In February 2012 Donorschoose.org created a new partnership with Bank of the West. The Bank has announced that it plans to donate a minimum of $500,000 to classrooms in some of the following states where they do business: Arizona; California; Colorado; Iowa; Idaho; Kansas; Minnesota; Missouri; North Dakota; Nebraska; New Mexico; Nevada; Oklahoma; Oregon; South Dakota; Utah; Washington; Wisconsin; Wyoming.
Internships:
Completing an internship with DonorsChoose.org gives high school and college students exposure working in the non profit sector. Due to its small size, students doing internships with DonorsChoose.org get a chance to see the work and accomplishments of an organization with a valuable mission achieve its goals one step and one person at a time.
Many college students who have completed an internship with DonorsChoose.org, were able to assist in one or more of the following projects:
- Promote Donorschoose.org by planning, coordinating, and conducting interviews for the purpose of making short videos.
- Be part of designing Donorschoose.org website’s landing page to encourage contributors to select the right ‘gift option’.
- Find celebrities willing to promote Donorschoose.org through the organization’s marketing campaigns.
- Assist the organization in getting the word out there through various social media outlets, such as: Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, etc.
- Research companies that could become potential vendor partners.
- Ensure that website features are properly working by continually engaging in usability testing procedures.
- Perform data analysis and make recommendations on changes based on findings for website usability and content.
- Analyze current trends in search activity by internet users.
Although the number of internships vary, approximately 10 – 15 college and 5 high school students participate in the New York City summer internship program each year. There may also be one intern working in San Francisco or Washington DC as well.
Types of Internships:
- Marketing Intern
- Human Capital Intern
- Partnerships and Business Development Intern
- Feedback Team Intern
- Customer Relations Intern
- Logistics and Business Relations Intern
Benefits:
The benefit of working for an organization such as Donorschoose.org is the opportunity to see how nonprofit organizations operate and expand in order to keep their mission alive. Donorchoose.org internships are unpaid but at the end of the day interns really get a sense that they are doing something really worthwhile and are able to make a big difference for teachers and students in the classroom.
Donorschoose.org takes part in a summer kickball league with other nonprofit organizations and interns are encouraged to take part in these games as a fun activity as well.
Location:
Most Donorschoose.org internships are in the New York City area with a few others taking place in San Francisco and Washington, DC.
To Apply:
Interested applicants can register and apply for free through InternMatch for all internships currently listed with Donorschoose.org.
