We like to have a lot of fun around here, but we also know that there are times to get serious and use our semi-prominent position to rally our readers around a good cause. Or in the case of the 2007 DonorsChoose blogger challenge, 25 good causes. Engadget has partnered with numerous different tech-centric programs around the country to help raise funds for the children that they serve, and with your assistance, we're hoping to collect a total of $25,000 to be distributed among these various organizations. The best part? As its name suggests, DonorsChoose allows you to allocate your donation however you please; so instead of contributing to the general "Engadget fund," you're actually giving directly to one or more programs impacting high-need public schools.
You have until October 31st to make a donation -- either by
clicking here or on the Read link below -- and we sincerely hope that you'll consider helping out these projects that really do have a chance to give kids a better future. We'll keep you updated with Team Engadget's progress, and while it would be almost criminal to guarantee every reader a new HDTV if we meet our goals, well...
Read - Donate!
Read - Blogger challenge press release
Read - About DonorsChoose.org
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Satish @ Oct 4th 2007 10:22AM
We Love Engadget...so sweet!
Will donate rite away...
Gadgie @ Oct 4th 2007 10:45AM
I'll donate if you remove select comments of mine for me.
telepheedian @ Oct 4th 2007 4:21PM
Which ones?
Gadgie @ Oct 4th 2007 5:05PM
Certain ones I've made in the past.
LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Oct 5th 2007 9:40AM
Nope. You should learn from your mistakes or goofs in the past like everybody else.
Matt @ Oct 4th 2007 10:47AM
I'm all for donating, and do donate regularly. But, wouldn't our donations be better served by supporting charities that provide low-cost medical treatment, food, clothing and such?
I am NOT criticizing these charities and by all means donate if you will. But, I am curious. How do these charities help children? I was taught without computers, projectors, overheads, or any other such thing. Are those useful tools? Certainly. Are they necessary to a good education? Not that I can see.
What do you all think?
Paragraph @ Oct 4th 2007 11:01AM
I agree, you can learn without these things, however technology does help. Years ago, in the days of slide rules, calculus was all about getting the graph down on paper. Now-a-days it's all about learning from those graphs etc, reading them, and etc, because it's easier to do it.
It's a toss up, these days kids don't know how good they have it, and i was a kid not too long ago... i managed to get edjimikated without newfangled ache-dee-tee-vees or kahm-pew-ters in the classroom, i gots mai readin and ritin and rithmatic just fihn.
anywhozle, i'm of the mind that donating money isn't the best way to help (in-fact with the rare exception of a few charities, like the ronald mcdonald house, or whoever happens to be hanging out at the register, that get my change, i only donate money to a breast cancer foundation). It's better to help by doing than by funding, because when you do something it goes 100% to someone who needs it, no skimming off the top.
I sit on the fence i guess, but when the jury is out i'll be donating whatever i feel i can spare this month.
Zach @ DonorsChoose @ Oct 4th 2007 11:16AM
Paragraph -
At DonorsChoose.org we ask donors to voluntarily contribute towards our fulfillment expenses (mailing materials, admin expenses, etc.) when making their donation. However, you can choose not to give these additional funds in which case 100% of your donation will indeed go directly to the classroom chosen. No skimming here! :)
Thanks!
Zach
Eric Leung @ Oct 4th 2007 10:46PM
Actually, when I went on the site and thought about donating, I saw the price sheet of one of the materials for a gym. After shipping, tax, etc., I noticed that DonorsChoose tacked on an additional 20% to get to the final cost?
I don't know about you guys, but I'd consider that skimming.
Eric Leung @ Oct 4th 2007 10:48PM
Sorry for double post but this is what I was referring to:
http://tinyurl.com/28svq2
(WARNING: PDF file)
fmusic @ Oct 5th 2007 12:18PM
If you look through the different fundings that teachers are looking for you can find some that aren't new fangled tech ideas. One teacher was looking for dictionaries for the students to improve their vocabularies. The nice thing is that you can pick and choose which ones you want to contribute to. Vote with your dollar.
As for the 20%. If you look up on Charity Navigator you can see where the money goes. Every charity has overhead. You have to advertise to get people to contribute. Looking the numbers, they are spending a good percentage on funding the program and not on overhead.
Zach @ DonorsChoose @ Oct 8th 2007 12:18PM
Eric Leung -
On page 2 of that pdf the following is written:
-
The project fulfillment fee supports this work and ensures "end to end" integrity on every student project. While the cost of fulfilling a student project remains the same, DonorsChoose.org offers a "scholarship" to the highest-need schools. Depending on a school's poverty level, the fulfillment fee is 25%, 20%, or 15% of the total project cost. The vast majority of schools using DonorsChoose.org
have high rates of poverty, so most proposals carry the 15% fulfillment fee.
-
And again, this fee is optional. When you make your donation you have the option to include or not include fulfillment costs. These costs help us pay the bills. Without these fulfillment costs we wouldn't be able to help as many students as we do. Luckily for us, and thanks to our always generous donors, 90% of our donation dollars have the fulfillment fee attached. :-)
- Zach (at) donorschoose [dot] org
kelley @ Oct 4th 2007 11:19AM
I saw a commecial for this last night....morgan freeman was doing the voice for the commercial. sounded like he is saying "doughnuts choose"
MB @ Oct 4th 2007 11:36AM
Great work, Engadget. I'll ask "Mrs. B." to donate.
Don @ Oct 4th 2007 11:54AM
Just donated... good luck reaching the goal!
Furious Styles @ Oct 4th 2007 1:47PM
Awesome! I have dreamed of this pairing for years!!
(Did you know DonorsChoose inspired a similar organization in China two years ago?!)
spsmyk @ Oct 4th 2007 3:45PM
Is AOL doing some sort of matching for these contributions?
Josh @ Oct 4th 2007 4:24PM
I'm currently in my second year of teaching, through Teach for America, in an urban, low income school district. I don't make a habit of extending thanks to anonymous internet entities, but I want to thank engadget from the absolute bottom of my heart for bringing these proposals to readers' attention. Presented daily with the appalling lack of resources available to our underprivileged children, it does my battered heart good to see an organization providing access and experience to students who, were it not for readers' generosity, would unquestionably go without. Big ups.
dpjax @ Oct 4th 2007 5:14PM
Why are there no projects in FL? I would rather help kids in my home state.
Furious Styles @ Oct 7th 2007 11:44AM
DonorsChoose just opened its doors to every public school teacher in America last month so this probably explains a lack of Florida proposals. I say just spread the word to some Florida public school teachers. This is millions of dollars going directly to public school classrooms -- not the city, superintendants or chancellors. As DC popularity increases, so will the number of donors, and the amount of dollars and thus more resources to public school classrooms. Keep hope alive! :-)
John M @ Oct 4th 2007 5:16PM
Its a great charity but I agree that it would serve these children better to have food and materials essential to thier daily survival. But, a good charity none the less.
Luca @ Oct 4th 2007 6:01PM
Great job, Engadget!
But...what a pity, DonorsChoose doesn't let people outside the States to make donations.
David @ Oct 4th 2007 6:24PM
I think generally people would have a problem with donating to an exclusively US charity when they come from another country, the US having one of the highest GDP and one of the worlds richest country. Not criticising, just thought I'd try and explain from another POV.
But I suppose US citizens living abroad might wish to.
hmbscully @ Oct 5th 2007 11:45AM
There is a way around the site restriction for non-US donors.
This information is from Tomato Nation and was provided by a Donors Choose employee:
+++++++++++
For all you generous non-US-address-having people:
When registering you should include your town/city in the “Address Line 2” field and your postcode & country in the “city” field. Select New York as your state. Enter 5 zeroes as your “zipcode.” For example:
Name: Sarah Bunting
Address: 123 Featherstone Street
Address 2: London
City: EC1Y 8SY, GREAT BRITAIN
State: NY
Zip: 00000
Luca @ Oct 5th 2007 6:16AM
David, thanks for your lines.
Well, it's just a missed chance to make a donation, for me. Sorry, Engadget!
Let's see the next time, maybe it'll be allowed. Could it be, count on me.
Have a nice day, guys!
Luca
kaztm @ Oct 4th 2007 9:00PM
What happened to the PS3 charity auction that moved from eBay to Engadget office? Is the result posted somewhere?
I would not donate through Engadget until they tell me what they did with the money from that auction.
Jared @ Oct 5th 2007 9:17AM
FYI, DonorsChoose.org is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. So your donations should be tax deductible.
Major Malfunction @ Oct 5th 2007 9:37AM
We need to discover a way to make being smart as sexy as professional sports or being an actor, then there would be gobs of money being thrown around the educational system.
jaredwork @ Oct 5th 2007 10:24PM
I'd love to... unfortunately I'm borderline-poverty. Yaaay school!
Marcus @ Oct 8th 2007 11:32AM
check it
John P @ Oct 9th 2007 12:31AM
Though I don't doubt the integrity of DonorsChoose, I have spotted something that makes me wonder how proposals come about. I actually graduated from Lamar HS in Houston, TX two years ago. Though it is an inner-city school with its fair share of poverty-line kids, it also graduates alot of kids from the wealthiest parts of Houston. It really could pass as a private school if it weren't for the building's appearance. As far as video technology at the school goes, it has a CC cable TV station that airs "news" once a day, and I know that the yearbook and other various media-centric classes have access to some decent equipment. From what I remember, it was not difficult to go ask another teacher to use equipment they had access to if you needed to do an assignment. One just has to wonder if these proposals go checked.
szamot @ Oct 9th 2007 10:37AM
Why not have an ebay auction and sell of some of the toys you guys have stashed away. Not only would kids benefit but so would the donors, in a way, and you would have more room for new stuff. While 20% admin fee is not criminal it is not low, mind you - it is not 90% like some Red campaign but hell every dollar counts. Of the 25K raised 5K will go to admin fee - that's a lot of dictionaries if you as me. Good luck with it anyway.
Reggie @ Oct 9th 2007 10:52AM
As a teacher I appreciate all those who have donated. I'm fortunate enough to work at a school where resources are abundant.
To those asking why since they got buy just fine without when they were in school, I'd ask if you went to a doctor and he used methods from 20 years ago, or a lawyer, or an engineer- would that be OK? Wouldn't you want him/her to use the most current methods?
Bringing tech into the classroom is not about tech. Its not about toys. Many of the projects that are listed are about providing opportunity to kids that don't have it. Desktop publishing / read-write technology is about providing an authentic audience. Collaborative tech is about allowing kids to scaffold ideas and communicate outside of class hours.
These kids are entering the workforce soon. They'll need to have experience with technology to compete. Why not give them an opportunity that other already have?
Teachers aren't looking for another piece of technology. They are looking to give these kids a chance.
Renee @ Oct 10th 2007 5:29PM
As a teacher who has received two grants from DonorsChoose, I would like to thank everyone who has considered donating to the organization. Both of the items I received were tech. items. Additionally, both items are things that the students use on a regular basis. Do the students need to have these items to learn? No. Does it make school more interesting and enjoyable for them? Yes. As a result, the students are more likely to actively participate in a lesson, remember more from the lesson and take greater pride in their work.
What do you remember most fondly from your days in school -- reading from the textbook or the cool hands-on activity you did one day in class?