PledgeCents and Teach For America Pilot Back-to-School To Fill First Time Teachers' Classrooms

    PHILADELPHIA, PA, January 16, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- PledgeCents and Teach For America, partners since 2014, piloted a new initiative this year to help first time teachers step into their classrooms with all of the essential resources they needed. The goal was to make sure teachers would be able to focus on applying the lessons they learned during their trainings in their crucial first weeks of school, and not worry about spending their own money to fill their first classroom. Beginning in July, PledgeCents attended eleven (11) Teach for America Summer Institutes, a five-week summer training that prepares all new corps members for their first classrooms, and allowed first time teachers to sign up for their automated fundraising pages with the click of a button. The result was over $42,000 raised in 40 days for basic supplies, which impacted over 4,000 students nationwide.

The 'Help Build The Foundation' initiative focused on the basic needs that many people don't realize that teachers end up paying for themselves. These needs include Kleenex and paper towels, pens and erasers, and dry erase markers and post-it notes. All the fundraising pages outlined 1,047 individual supplies that could be purchased with the $355 goal.

Regarding this initiative, Andyshea Saberioon, co-founder and CEO, said, "Most people don't realize the number of items that teachers end up paying for themselves over the course of a year. For a first-time teacher, the costs are even higher because they are stepping into a blank-slate classroom. Our goal at PledgeCents has always been to reduce the out-of-pocket spending that our teachers face in the easiest, most streamlined way possible. We were able to achieve this with Teach For America in the 'Help Build The Foundation' initiative by creating templated fundraising pages that included items that all teachers need on the first day and over the course of the school year. When we can save teachers money and time, that's when we achieve our goal."

Sabina Bharwani, Managing Director of Innovation Strategy & Partnerships for Teach For America, commented, "Teach For America works in partnership with organizations that look to further our shared mission to increase access to high-quality education. In PledgeCents we have a partner that continues to find ways to equip our corps members and their students with the resources they need to succeed. I'm very excited by the results we are seeing. This is a great testament to the amount of support for teachers in our communities."

Based on the positive results of the pilot, PledgeCents plans to create more initiatives that can benefit Teach For America and other organizations that support, train and employ teachers. If you are interested in partnering or learning more about how PledgeCents can benefit your organization, email us at [email protected] for more information.

About PledgeCents, Inc.

PledgeCents is the preferred fundraising platform for all PreK-12 needs. By allowing anyone to raise funds, PledgeCents aims to eliminate the $1.6 billion teachers annually spend out-of-pocket for basic classroom needs. Over 1,500 schools representing over 250 public school districts in 51 states work to raise funds through the PledgeCents platform. With the addition of the newly launched Preferred Partner Program, PledgeCents has partnered with over 35 leading education technology companies to help schools and teachers receive access to the tools they need but cannot afford. For more information please visit: http://www.pledgecents.com or email [email protected] with any questions.

About Teach For America

Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals to make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to end educational inequity. Corps members are teaching today in 53 urban and rural regions across the country. They join more than 12,000 alumni educators in a teaching force of 19,000 and an overall community that is 53,000 strong, working across every sector to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. Teach For America is a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network. For more information, visit http://www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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