Teachers bring new technology, fun to classroom through crowdfunding

Chico >> Depending on the day, students in Fair View High teacher John Cowan’s science class cook food with solar ovens they built, feed reptiles and experiment with liquid nitrogen.

The classroom offers new equipment like high-tech computer-connected microscopes and specialized beakers that allow the veteran teacher to craft lessons that make him, as well as the students, want to come to class each day.

Despite shrinking school supply budgets, Cowan has brought more than $11,000 worth of goods and experiences to his students in the last five years thanks to his friends and other donors across the country that he’s connected with through Donors Choose, a crowdfunding platform that allows individuals and corporations to fund classroom projects.

He’s funded 22 projects with the platform. He heavily promotes the projects on social media, and attributes their success to his “generous” friends.

“I’ve got a projection device, a digital microscope that will hook up to a computer, tools for a maker-space,” Cowan said. “Most of these things are for hands-on projects that benefit the entire class. I’m able to do stuff than just relying on the school and district that I wouldn’t be able to do.”

Cowan isn’t alone. In Butte and Glenn counties, 1,144 projects have been funded over the last 10 years with the platform, raising $512,269 and reaching more than 78,000 students, according to data from Donors Choose.

The projects vary but in recent years have included a $14,000 fundraising effort to send Marsh Junior High students to a showing of “He Named Me Malala,” a $1,000 project to purchase a band saw blade rewelding tool for Willows High students and an $835 project to purchase digital cameras for students at Central Middle School.

The number of projects funded in the area has increased considerably in the past four years thanks in part to Golden Apple Insurance, a local insurance company that serves educators and provides training to local teachers on how to use Donors Choose.

Jack and Blake Danielson with Golden Apple travel throughout Butte and Glenn counties, working with every district to train teachers and school about the platform and how they can bring the materials and experiences their students need into the classroom and fund projects using matching dollars from major organizations like Toms of Maine and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. The company also donates to classroom projects with the platform.

“We want to help teachers, educators help their students,” Blake Danielson said.

Jack Danielson, a former educator, said that teachers often use their own money to buy classroom supplies and this allows them to fund classroom needs with the support of individuals and corporations that want to help. The process of setting up a fundraiser is easy and takes just a bit of time, he said, much less than teachers expect.

Their work has been praised by school districts like Chico Unified and administrators who say that their teachers are able to fund projects and give kids experiences they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

“He has been tireless,” CUSD Assistant Superintendent Jim Hanlon said of Jack Danielson. ”He’s put in a tremendous amount of time and it’s grown every year. It’s just another avenue to help our students.”

Jack Danielson said that he is committed to working with teachers and showing them the resources that exist through crowdfunding. He added that he is impressed by how much teachers have raised with the support of individuals and major companies and that he’d like to see more people and more local companies support local classrooms.

“If you could do this and support teachers to provide what their students need, why wouldn’t you?” Danielson asked.

Reach reporter Dani Anguiano at 896-7767.