Project eligibility requirements

At DonorsChoose, eligible educators may request a wide variety of resources that will help your students learn! This can include requests for physical materials, virtual events, or digital resources.

All projects are screened before approval and must meet the following criteria:

General

• All requested resources must be used by students or directly provide a student benefit.
  • • The project essay must clearly describe the direct student benefit of the project request. This can be shown in how students will use the resources in the classroom, what they will learn, or how a professional development opportunity will benefit students.
    • All items or resources requested should be mentioned or described in the project description.
• The project must be posted by an eligible educator and should be in the teacher’s own words.
• The project must follow our community guidelines and cannot foster discrimination or contain inappropriate language.
• The project cannot proselytize a religion or endorse a political candidate.. 

Essay

• The project essay can not include derogatory language towards a school, district, parents or guardian, or community, including the presentation of race, parenting, home life, economic disadvantage, or neighborhood as an obstacle to learning.
  • • Rather than focusing on shortcomings, describe your students through their skills, talents, and interests.
• The project essay cannot infringe upon a student's safety or right to privacy. This includes mention of:
  • • Student names (first and last)
    • Classroom number
    • Social media handles
    • Identifying information such as documentation or IEP status, health diagnoses, or disabilities
• The project essay cannot include legal disclaimers, promises of rewards, or other promotional language.

Resources

• Project resources cannot infringe upon a student’s safety or right to privacy, including but not limited to items that endanger students, like weapons
• The requested resources must be compatible with any school or district requirements.
  • This can include technology compatibility (i.e., Apple vs. PC products) or other district or school directives for your classroom.
• The project must not provide a financial benefit (e.g., commission, profit, dividends) to the teacher or their network of family and friends, or demonstrate a conflict of interest between a teacher and the vendor. Project materials may also not be directly resold for profit.
• Project requests cannot include cash or salary requests, prepaid resources, or refurbished materials. Certain gift card requests are allowed.
  • Cash, salary, and prepaid resources are prohibited to ensure that donors have transparency into how funds are being applied towards a classroom.
  • Refurbished materials are prohibited due to availability and quality concerns.

Additionally:

We strongly recommend that project materials/goals should be able to be implemented in the classroom at any time during the school year, as it can take anywhere from four minutes to four months for a project to be fully funded. Materials or resources should be planned to be used in or by the classroom within several months of receiving funding.

Currently, we do not support class or professional development events (trips or visitors) that have in-person components.

Please note that beyond the policies listed in this article, additional project guidelines and restrictions may apply.

Need help writing your essay? Check out our essay guidance and template.

For additional project examples, see current classroom projects.