1. DONORSCHOOSE.ORG
For teaching government a thing or two about education reform. Most of us can agree that the U.S. school system is a mess: State education budgets are shrinking, while businesses' expectations for job preparedness are ever rising. Charles Best, founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org, is trying to make sure teachers and students have the resources to do their part. The crowdfunding nonprofit has raised $225 million to help more than 175,000 teachers fund more than 400,000 projects, from securing school supplies for the semester to helping make field trips happen. Best, formerly a public-school history teacher in the Bronx, has managed to rein in some deep-pocketed donors and partners, including Sheryl Sandberg, Stephen Colbert, and Google, which is helping Best use his site in transformative ways, such as bringing AP STEM classes to more than 330 high schools and helping entrepreneurs market new educational tools directly to classrooms.
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