DonorsChoose: you can donate $1.5 million without spending a penny

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 for a $1.5 million donation from them. All you need to do is vote for DonorsChoose; you don't even need to be an American Express cardmember - here's the message I received:

Dear Abel,

Thrilling news: DonorsChoose.org just made the Top 5 finals of the Members Project! Please vote today to help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom.

With enough votes like yours, we could win $1.5 million from American Express. All the funds will go to classroom requests on our site, delivering books, microscopes, art supplies, and other learning materials to 100,000 students in need.

We've made it this far against a thousand other entries. We can't go all the way without you. If you have an American Express card, it's critical that you vote today. Just follow these two steps:

1. Log-in at the AmEx Members Project website
2. Vote ! You should then see a gold star on our project, "Help 100,000 Children Thrive in the Classroom"
Whether or not you are a cardmember, please forward this email to all your friends who care about our public schools!

Sincerely,
Charles Best
Founder, DonorsChoose.org

P.S. If you voted last week, please vote again, as the slate is wiped clean each round. And don't forget to tell your friends!

So if you don't have any spare change to donate to our current challenges, go on over to the AmEx site and just vote for DonorsChoose.