If a project does not reach the Project Goal, donations will be returned to either the donor, teacher, or partner, depending on the circumstances (see below).
DonorsChoose can only purchase resources when a project reaches 100%, full funding. We are not able to purchase a portion of resources listed, nor are we able to change the request to lower costs.
If you're a teacher:
The day after your project expires, donations from "friends and family" will be sent to you as DonorsChoose gift codes to use on your next project. If you received any donations during pre-funding, they’ll be returned to you as account credits.
- Our system identifies a donation as being from “friends and family” when that donor supports your project by using the fundraising links in your account, or if they give through your teacher page.
Donations from any donors not marked “friends and family” by our system will be returned directly to them, so the donors can choose how to re-apply the funding (which may include sending it to you for your next project).
If you yourself donated to your project, you will receive the donation back as account credits.
If your project expires without full funding and the requested items are still needed in your classroom, you are more than welcome to create and submit a new version of your project. If you would like more flexibility with purchasing individual items, please check out our Classroom Essentials lists.
If you're a donor:
If a project expires without reaching its funding goal, we’ll handle your donation as follows:
- If you gave using a teacher's unique fundraising link or through their teacher page, we’ll send your donation to the teacher automatically, for use on their next classroom project.
- Otherwise, we’ll send you an email that will allow you to choose whether you’d like to find another project to support, or send your donation to the original teacher for their next classroom project. (If you don't take an action within 30 days of receiving this email, we’ll apply your donation to an urgent classroom project in need of support.
For matching donations:
If a donation is matched by a promotional code entered at checkout (i.e., "LIFTOFF"), the matched donation will follow the path of the original donation (so if the donation is returned to the donor, so will with promotional match; if the donation is sent to the teacher, so will the promotional match).
If a donation was matched by one of partners through a match offer, the matching funds will be returned to the partner account. This is because many match offers have project-specific criteria, so matching funds from our partners cannot be transferred between projects or held as credits.