Ryan Hofer, Horace Mann Insurance agent, former SD band director, and SDBA member would like to share an opportunity to get funding for your classroom. Horace Mann has formed a partnership with a great site called Donors Choose. We’ve found it to be a great resource for funding classroom projects.
The teacher site is located at http://www.donorschoose.org/teachers. Once you visit the site, you will need to register as a user. There’s a link there for “teacher tutorial” that can explain the process much better than I can. Clicking “Get Started” will take you through the registration process.
As a new member to the site, your choices of materials are limited to the vendors who have an agreement with donorschoose.org. As you become more experienced and get more projects funded, you earn more points (kind of like an eBay rating) and can make purchases from other vendors. One idea to get points faster is to designate one or two lead teachers to be the donorschoose experts and post projects for others in your building or on your team.
Hopefully this will get you started. Please let me know if you have more questions as you go through the process. I’d be happy to swing by the school during a planning period and help you out as well. If you post a project, be sure to let me know so I can start your funding. Keep your eyes open for Double Your Impact money, as that will pay for half of the project up front. Also, be sure to “like” Horace Mann on facebook and be on the lookout for other funding opportunities.