DonorsChoose.org ScienceBlogs Challenge 2007

Some of you may recall that last year we held a sort-of fundraiser to support science education. The program was organized through DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit dedicated to getting money to teachers to support in class projects. Each teacher submits a proposal requesting funds for their desired project, and prospective donors select which project they would like to support with their donation -- hence, Donors Choose. Last year evolgen readers raised over $500 ($881 to be exact), and ScienceBlogs readers in total raised over $15,000 (with Seed chipping in another $10,000).

This year we've set the goal at $1000, which we hope to raise between now and October 31. You can view the evolgen challenge here, where we have over 10 projects in need of funding. If you choose to support one of those projects with a donation, you have the opportunity to earn a prize (see below, details to come soon). You can track the progress of the evolgen challenge on the left side-bar (clicking on the DonorsChoose.org challenge tracker will take you to the evolgen challenge). If we reach our goal of $1000, DonorsChoose.org will chip in an additional $100 to support any unfunded projects. You can also track all the ScienceBlogs challenges by visiting the DonorsChoose.org Leaderboard. For more information on the ScienceBlogs challenge, see below.

Here's what Janet has to say about the project:

This year, the challenge runs for the entire month of October. A number of ScienceBloggers have already put together challenges. Here's who's in so far:

A Blog Around the Clock (challenge here)
Adventures in Ethics and Science (challenge here)
Aetiology (challenge here)
Cognitive Daily (challenge here)
Deep Sea News (challenge here)
Evolgen (challenge here)
Gene Expression (challenge here)
Omni Brain (challenge here)
On Being a Scientist and a Woman (challenge here)
The Questionable Authority (challenge here)
Retrospectacle (challenge here)
The Scientific Activist (challenge here)
Stranger Fruit (challenge here)
Terra Sigillata (challenge here)
Thoughts From Kansas (challenge here)
Thus Spake Zuska (challenge here)
Uncertain Principles (challenge here)

How It Works:

Follow the links above to the DonorsChoose website.

Pick a project from the slate the blogger has selected (or more than one project, if you just can't choose).

Donate.

(If you're the loyal reader of multiple participating blogs and you don't want to play favorites, you can, of course, donate to multiple challenges!)

DonorsChoose will send you a confirmation email. Hold onto it; our benevolent overlords at Seed will be randomly selecting some donors to receive nifty prizes. Details about the prizes and how to get entered will be posted here soon!

Sit back and watch the little donation thermometers inch towards 100 percent, and check the ScienceBlogs leaderboard to see how many students will be impacted by your generosity.