Quotes from Charles Best

I do not live off canned soup.

Imagine someone with $10 finding a classroom project that speaks to them personally, seeing where their money is going, and realizing that they don't need to be a millionaire to make a difference.

Our only political stance is this: listen to these teachers.

No matter the circumstances, teachers show up each day ready to give their students every opportunity possible, and they never give up.

Every day, teachers across the country excite their students with new opportunities and experiences.

America's best teachers are always looking for new ways to bring learning to life.

Look how the pale queen of the silent night Doth cause the ocean to attend upon her....

Public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org. Requests range from pencils for a poetry writing unit to violins for a school recital to microscope slides for a biology class.

DonorsChoose enables teachers not just to go public with learning needs in classrooms but also to unleash their imaginations about the best ideas to help students learn.

Hardworking, passionate teachers know their students' needs better than anyone else in the school environment. If we can tap into their needs, we can unleash smarter solutions and empower those people on the front lines.

We want to use our site to galvanize people to give but also to take important steps toward real change.

At DonorsChoose.org, we believe that teachers are unsung heroes.

I've met with titans of Silicon Valley because they're investing in our national expansion. I've had lunch with Claire Danes because she sees DonorsChoose.org as the best way to help students in public schools. I would never, ever rub shoulders with such people if I had followed the typical career path in investment banking or whatever.

I'd listened to my colleagues in the teachers' lunchroom. I could tell they were passionate, fired-up people who had great ideas for strategies and projects to help kids learn better. They just didn't have the resources. I was frustrated, but I also knew it was a frustration felt by teachers all over the city.

We will employ almost every strategy and hustle in any possible way to recruit top engineers to our team.

Students can't dream big when classrooms lack books, microscopes, and robotics kits - or even paper, pencils, and paste.

I was a social studies teacher at a high school in the Bronx for five years.

DonorsChoose was conceived at a Bronx public high school where I taught social studies for five years. In the teachers' lunch room, my colleagues and I often lamented a problem that drained learning from students and creativity from teachers: a lack of funding for essential materials and for the activities that bring subject matter to life.

We've established a free marketplace of teacher ideas and donor interests.