If you teach and need money for a project or work outside of education and want to help fund a specific project, DonorsChoose may be the site you need to visit.
The site has two purposes:
1 – Give public school teachers a chance to get money for classroom projects that otherwise would not be funded.
2 – Give prospective donors a chance to learning about and fund specific classroom projects.
When you create an account on the site, you are asked to categorize yourself as a public school teacher or a prospective donor. Teachers can propose projects that require funding and donors can select projects and donate money to them.
The site has also started what it calls a Blogger Challenge. If you have a blog, you can challenge the readers of your blog to donate a certain amount money during a specific time period. DonorsChoose keeps track of how much money that is donated through your blogger challenge. Tomato Nation (at the top of the leader board) has raised $35,000 impacting over 3000 students.
In the end, everyone wins.