DonorsChoose.org

I can't believe October's here already and it's time again for our annual social media challenge to raise money for US science teachers. Last year, eight generous, erudite, and good-looking Terra Sig readers donated at total of $1,972 to impact the lives of 1,865 students. I've got started a little late but three of you already hunted me down and have donated a total of $1,737 - due primarily to our perennial megadonor, Diana, who shares the good fortune in her life with kids to combat the anti-science nonsense she sees around this country. DonorsChoose.org is "an online charity connecting…

I can't believe October's here already and it's time again for our annual social media challenge to raise money for US science teachers. Last year, eight generous, erudite, and good-looking Terra Sig readers donated at total of $1,972 to impact the lives of 1,865 students. DonorsChoose.org is "an online charity connecting you to classrooms in need." I wrote about Terra Sig's support last year and you can read my personal statement about Why We Donate to DonorsChoose Projects. For example, my heart was broken last year when I read of a project for students a mere 35 miles from a major state…

I've been a bit too quiet on my end during this third year of ScienceBlogs.com participation in the October Blogger Challenges for DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose.org was launched by Charles Best, a Bronx schoolteacher who recognized that public schools around the US were underfunded, particularly in districts with a high abundance of poverty: Charles Best leads DonorsChoose.org, a simple way to fulfill needs and foster innovation in public schools. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit proposals for materials or experiences that their students need to learn. Any individual can…

As I alluded to in the previous post, many science bloggers like us are currently running challenges to readers to donate to projects at DonorsChoose.org. This great organization has been a sponsoring clearinghouse for all kinds of educational projects proposed by US public schoolteachers, many of which are very basic activities for which public funds are not available, then donors like you and I get to choose to whom we wish to send a few doubloons. Independently of the ScienceBlogs drive, I just learned that American Express has selected DonorsChoose as five finalists who are competing…

I am completely crushed, hammered, and otherwise incapacitated at work right now - apologies to readers who are looking for some natural products and pharmacology wisdom. It is in my brain but just not making it into pixels right now. In the meantime, I did want to let readers know that we are participating for our 3rd year in the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge here at ScienceBlogs. More later on the program and my interests, past experiences, etc. In the meantime, you can check out some of the projects about which I am passionate at: Terra Sigillata's "More Abel To Do Science" Blogger…

Okay, here's one final update on our drive to raise DonorsChoose.org funds for K-12 teachers to conduct projects in their classrooms. An e-mail came in today from Charles Best, the Bronx schoolteacher who established DonorsChoose: Thanks in great part to the attention ScienceBlogs generated, we made Internet history! During the month of October, readers of more than a hundred blogs gave $420,000 to classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org, benefiting 75,000 students. To put that in perspective, it took four months for the hugely successful Facebook causes application--with millions of users--…

I chose not to plague you with incessant reminders to contribute to our drive to raise funds for projects at DonorsChoose.org - where public school teachers propose class projects and you decide which ones to fund. Just one post at kickoff and another halfway through. We just completed the drive for our local NPR station so I know that badgering can grow on you no matter how worthy the cause. But you readers have been incredibly responsive and generous in donating to the Terra Sig "Save the Science" projects. With a total of $2,806.47 donated thus far, we are 70% of the way towards our goal…

Yesterday we spoke a bit on the progress of our DonorsChoose blogger challenge to raise funds that will support teacher projects in underserved areas to "Save the Science." Before joining this effort a year-and-a-half ago, I had not heard of DonorsChoose but I knew it was a great idea as soon as I learned of the model. Well, I also now just learned a little more about the guy who got it all started, Charles Best. Best was just recognized a "Cool Old Person" by DoSomething.org ("the site for old people who want to help young people do something"). By my account, Best does not qualify as an…

Well, I've really got to hand it to Terra Sig readers, some of the most thoughtful and generous folks I've come across. Our "Save the Science" blogger challenge at DonorsChoose now stands at $1,881, 47% of the way toward our $4,000 goal. For those reading for the first time, DonorsChoose.org is a fundraising organization for K-12 public schools, those mostly in underfunded districts. Teachers propose projects, then donors like you and I get to pick which project we want to fund, wholly or partially. The Terra Sig "Save the Science" project list is here, with instructions on how to give.…

As noted in my last post on the end of our ScienceBlogs.com DonorsChoose campaign to raise funds for public schoolteacher projects around the country, we have all been amazed at the outpuoring of generosity from readers who share our passion for educating the next generation of scientists. At the very least, you have all played a part in improving the scientific literacy of kids who go on to do other things, but can still apply critical thinking skills to everything from making sense of politician/sciencespeak to protect themselves from unscrupulous marketers of dietary supplements. But as…

The DonorsChoose campaign here at ScienceBlogs has come to a close and our challenge has been the beneficiary of support from about 10 donors. As a result of the generosity of readers, including poor graduate students and thoughtful family members, we've met all three of our challenge goals to fund projects in underserved areas of North Carolina. Thank you! However, one donor stands out and I'm sending this shout-out for permission to use her name here to acknowledge her incredible philanthropy. The DonorsChoose page that we sponsors see doesn't list exact dollar amounts, but given the…

...not to mention you are discriminating, generous, good-looking and intelligent! What am I talking about? First, recognize that our move to Sb has increased our daily visits steadily into the triple digits but we are still only floating around positions 32 to 40 among our 44 SiBlings. But, be still, dear readers - we are kicking butt in two measures of DonorsChoose contributions. Pledge coordinator (and Sb 2.0 pledgemistress) Dr Janet Stemwedel was procrastinating on real work yesterday to calcuate that Terra Sig is #1 among ScienceBloggers for DonorsChoose contributions per 1000 unique…

Much to my amazement, over $500 has been donated to fully fund the first of my three pet projects in North Carolina. What is even more amazing is that these donations came from a total of two individuals: one is a blogger and the other is unknown to me, I think, but DonorsChoose does not list the amount for each donor. So thank you to you both and a very special BIG thank you if one of you donated the bulk or if both of you donated in the ballpark of $250 each. Why I am even more touched by your generosity is that the funded project, Big Books for Little Readers in Science and Social…