Giving Compass' Take:

• DonorsChoose, a crowdfunding platform for teachers to fundraise for specific classroom resources, is receiving more and more donations in time for students returning to school after the summer break. 

• What components of the DonorsChoose model makes fundraising so successful?

• Read more about the $29 million cryptocurrency donation to DonorsChoose earlier this year. 

There are currently more than 76,000 projects seeking funding on DonorsChoose.org — more than double the count normally during this back-to-school season.

“That’s exceptionally high for us,” Amy Soler, the director of business relations for the education-focused crowdfunding site, said in an interview.

Crowdfunding takes away some of the inequities that exist when schools in more affluent areas are able to raise funds from parent organizations or community members to supplement the classroom, cover extracurricular activities, or provide additional enrichment. Advocates say it also increases transparency so donors know exactly how their money is being used.

DonorsChoose has a new “warmth, care and hunger” category, which includes purchases such as winter coats and basic hygiene supplies that schools might stock for students experiencing homelessness. Because of opioid addition, some school leaders say they have also seen students arriving to school without a bath or wearing dirty clothes.

While the organization has long included requests from Head Start classrooms within public schools, those sites represented only about 18% of Head Start programs. Last year, however, DonorsChoose became open to any Head Start program because of a partnership with the PNC Foundation. Since April, 2017, over 4,600 Head Start projects have been posted.

The spike in projects on DonorsChoose has likely been influenced by the fact that in March, Ripple, a virtual currency company, spent $29 million to fund all of the existing projects on the site — over 35,000 requests for donations. Since then, the number of projects has been growing during the usually slower spring months.

Read the full article about education crowdfunding by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive