Back-to-School Campaign Gets High Marks

Ai Helps DonorsChoose Exceed Contribution Goal of 1.2 Million

October 30, 2006

DonorsChoose, an innovative organization that helps people directly impact the lives of students in high-need public schools, challenged its donors with an ambitious contribution goal of 1.2 million dollars in a month-long, National Back to School campaign.

Alexander Interactive (Ai), a premier ecommerce strategy, design, and development agency, used electronic media including emails, blogging, and website promotions to help DonorsChoose beat that goal, raising over $1.5 million by the end of the drive.

The Back to School Campaign marked the first time DonorsChoose had run coordinated fundraising campaigns in every single city and state where the organization works, and thanks to the combined efforts of DonorsChoose and Ai, public school students across the country will be entering the academic year with the supplies they need to succeed:

• Over 100 students per year in Indianapolis, Indiana will discover life at the cellular level through their new set of microscopes.
• Junior high school students in Starkville, Mississippi will finally have a set of classroom dictionaries to help improve their vocabularies and spelling
• Autistic preschool children in Greensboro, North Carolina will start to explore basic math with a program tailored specifically to their needs.

Together, Ai and DonorsChoose proved that a combination of new media and good old fashioned drive can put the generosity of people across the US to great use, and make a difference in the lives of underprivileged youth.

DonorsChoose is dedicated to addressing the scarcity and inequitable distribution of learning materials and experiences in our public schools. Since 2000, DonorsChoose has grown from an experiment at a Bronx public school to a thriving organization serving 3,481 public schools. Fueled at first by word of mouth, DonorsChoose has achieved exponential growth, quadrupling the resources delivered to classrooms for each of the last four years. DonorsChoose will improve public education by engaging citizens in an online marketplace where teachers describe and individuals can fund specific student projects. Donorschoose envisions a nation where students in every community have the resources they need to learn. To learn more about DonorsChoose, please visit www.donorschoose.org.

Alexander Interactive is a leader in ecommerce strategy, design, and development. Passionate about design and engineers at heart, Alexander Interactive focuses on creating rich Web experiences tailored to the needs of its clients' businesses. Ai builds award-winning sites and fulfillment systems for clients including Pepperidge Farm, Campbell Soup, FragranceNet.com, Steiner Sports, Action Envelope and Caché.