Giving Compass' Take:

• DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit crowdfunding platform, is running a campaign called #ISeeMe that targets the needs of teachers of color and their students.

• Many celebrities, philanthropists, and big tech companies pledged donations on DonorsChoose.org for this specific campaign. How will these more substantial endorsements help the campaign gain traction? And why is it crucial for donors to prioritize the needs of teachers and students of color? 

•  Read more about the nonprofit platform, DonorsChoose.org. 

About two-and-a-half years ago, staff at the nonprofit crowdfunding platform DonorsChoose.org began to notice an uptick in teacher requests for resources in which students could “see themselves”—that was the key phrase that kept coming up.

That upward trend has continued: Since 2016, such requests have increased 117 percent. And DonorsChoose is taking note.

On Thursday, the organization announced the launch of #ISeeMe, a campaign aimed at boosting the amount of culturally responsive materials in U.S. classrooms. These include items like books written by authors of color, or other resources featuring figures from diverse backgrounds.

As part of the campaign—which will target requests on DonorsChoose made by teachers of color, female math and science teachers, and any teacher who asks for resources that reflect their students’ identities—Google.org has pledged $4 million to match donations to relevant projects.

In addition to the funds Google.org is committing, many celebrities and high-profile philanthropists have pledged to provide or have already provided financial support to classroom projects in the campaign, including actresses Whoopi Goldberg, Lupita Nyong’o and Octavia Spencer; actor Samuel L. Jackson; singer-songwriter John Legend; and comedian Stephen Colbert.

One of the ways DonorsChoose is identifying these teachers and projects, he said, is through a new function on the website that allows teachers to identify their gender, race, education and number of years in the profession, among other questions. Already, nearly 60,000 educators have filled out the prompts, allowing the nonprofit to better connect donors to their projects.

Read the full article about #ISeeMe campaign for classrooms by Emily Tate at EdSurge.