The DonorsChoose Starter Kit

This Pay What You Want product contains everything I've learned over the course of receiving over $11,000 worth of classroom donations through a single, easy-to-use website: DonorsChoose.org. Many educators have heard of DonorsChoose by now, but too few are using it efficiently and effectively.

In this starter kit, you'll find both videos and PDF files, in which I walk you through everything from the getting started process to some of my favorite advanced strategies like The Chunking Technique (catchy, right) and The Rule of 100.

Oh, and it costs as little as $1 -- the price is up to you.

What DonorsChoose?

DonorChoose.org connects classrooms needs to people and companies who care. Public school teachers from around the country create classroom project requests, and donors can give any amount they'd like to any project they care to support.

To make it personal and recent, let me tell you about this past school year. In total, folks I've never met and who've never heard of my blog or classroom gave over $4,000 toward my classroom library. 

I want to pay that generosity forward with this starter kit. 

What's in the Starter Kit?

Here's what I've put together in the kit for you:

• Seven (count 'em) screencasts in which my sultry voice guides you from wherever you're at right now with DonorsChoose (including "Huh? What's that?") to right where I'm at right now with DonorsChoose. Screencasts include the chunking technique, my annual DonorsChoose workflow, and advanced funding tips.
• A .pdf file that summarizes my DonorsChoose workflow -- this is how I keep donors updated with my classroom needs in an efficient, effective manner throughout the school year.
• An editable version of my first day of school letter to parents. This letter explains DonorsChoose and gets 95% of my students' guardians to sign the DonorsChoose permission slip each year.
•  -- a 55-page .pdf ebook was once only available to subscribers of Teaching the Core.
  

What's up with Pay What You Want pricing?

I use a buyer-defined pricing model (fancy!), in which you can pay as little as a buck or as much as $100 (two people have done that -- go ahead and break their record!) or more, because I want to provide access to these materials to everyone and I want to give people a chance to give back to Teaching the Core. (By "give back to Teaching the Core," I mean add date nights to my wife's and daughters' lives, books to my classroom library, and pre-payments on our mortgage.)

So, pay what you think these resources are worth, OR pay what you think Teaching the Core is worth -- it's up to you, and I appreciate you simply for considering it!

What if I'm not satisfied?

Just shoot me an email: dave_at_teachingthecore.com. I'll refund you!

What if my life is drastically improved, and, in retrospect, I decide I want to give you more money for this starter kit?

C'mon now -- there's no "What if" here! 

(Kidding.)

If you feel like you should've given more, just "purchase" the product again, this time giving me whatever you feel you should have given.

What if I want to buy this for my whole team / department / school?

Go ahead, you! Just pay me what you think is fair. Typically, professional development stuff like this is mad over-priced. Things are priced this way to ensure companies make profits.

But I'm betting that it doesn't need to be that way; I'm betting that you people are amazing and will pay whatever you think is fair.