The economy might be about to tank, but why should the children have to suffer? If you are going to give to charity this year (and you should, every one of you), we highly recommend giving to DonorsChoose. Each donation funds a classroom project or equipment for teachers who too often have to fund supplies out of their own meager paychecks. This year we are once again participating in the Donors Choose Blogger Challenge, which raised a total of $420,000 in 2007.
You can give as much as you want (the minimum donation is $10). Last year, I bought a digital camera for a classroom in Illinois, and got hand-written thank-you notes from each student. It really brought home how a few hundred dollars can make a big difference to a roomful of students. But to encourage some serious donations, we decided to make it a little more interesting this year. The top three donors who give at least $1,000 each will receive an All Events pass from TechCrunch. This pass will be good for two tickets to any MeetUp or conference that TechCrunch helps to put on between November 1, 2008 and November 1, 2009. All of them, including TechCrunch50 and the Crunchies. (A single ticket for TechCrunch50 alone cost $2,995 this year).
Not only that, but as an extra bonus, whoever donates the most will also get a one-hour pitch session with angel investor Ron Conway, who has generously agreed to donate his time for this worthy cause. All proceeds go to DonorsChoose, a tax-deductible charity. We’ll even throw in five TechCrunch t-shirts as runner-up prizes (they are very rare, you know).
We’ve picked some classroom projects worth looking at, or you can find your own. As long as you donate via this TechCrunch page or through the widget below, it will count towards our total and put you in te running for the tickets and the Ron Conway session. Also, if you are an American Express cardholder, vote here to give DonorsChoose a chance at an extra $1.5 million donation.