We've heard people say that teachers have no business going rogue and trying to select their own books, technology, and classes - and citizens have no business deciding what is worthy. We believe in teachers. We believe in the wisdom of the crowd.

We've long believed teachers know best what their students need to succeed, and that includes the creation of healthy, supportive school communities.

We all remember special days at school, whether it was going on a field trip, doing a science experiment, or performing in a school play.

Our partnership with Dick's Sports Matter program aligns perfectly with our mission to address inequity in schools nationwide.

We're thrilled to be a part of PNC's longstanding commitment to early childhood learning. Their generosity will help us expand the DonorsChoose.org platform to serve Head Start classrooms nationwide, ensuring that many more pre-K teachers have resources they need to give their students a solid educational foundation.

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

Donors are sick of writing that $200 check to the Red Cross and not knowing whether it goes for the executive director's salary or the office rent.

A really large number of teachers contact us offline testifying how valuable iPads are for their students.

It just felt wrong that the kids I was teaching didn't have the same access to materials that I did when I was a student.

Acknowledging someone is an act of altruism in the first place, so converting that act of altruism into a pizza party or company fleece jacket or a gift card is fine, but it's not in keeping with spirit in which it all began.

I think philanthropy is so much more in keeping with spirit of shouting someone out than a material reward.

My colleagues and I would spend a lot of our own money on copy, paper, and pencils. I just figured there are people out there who would want to help teachers like us if they could see exactly where their money was going.

We love that our platform allows people to give.

After 14 years of running DonorsChoose.org as someone who had never written a line of code, I did do a three-month night school course. After all these years, I could at least speak some of the same vocabulary and have a first-hand appreciation for what my colleagues on the engineering team are doing.

We evaluate all business decisions based on how we can best serve public school teachers and their students.

We reflect on our successes and failures at monthly staff meetings.

I founded DonorsChoose.org because I care about learning, and I believe every student in our country deserves a great education.

I believe if we can crowdsource educational solutions to teachers on the front lines, who often know their kids better than anyone, we will unearth and generate better-targeted, smarter ideas.

One thing that gets missed a lot is that DonorsChoose is merely a place where teachers post wish lists. That doesn't do justice to the level of innovation that we see taking place on our site.

We think we can contribute something toward the improvement of public education in our country.

One question we'll ask is, 'Who are you grateful for,' and a surprising number of people can't name anyone beyond their mother.

Our name is not great. It doesn't evoke anything about school or teachers. It doesn't roll off the tongue or stick in your head.

We think the ability to rattle off people you are grateful to and thankful to is often sort of a proxy for openness to learning from others.

We make friends with people we admire, including those you might consider competitors, like charity: water, Kiva, and Global Giving. We get on a call with them and exchange ideas.