I do have personal experience; I funded 2 projects for NYC schools (I grew up in Brooklyn.)

I never waived the fulfillment fee, but I believe you can opt to do that.

I have to say that I was surprised and a bit overwhelmed at the response I received. For each project, every student wrote a personal thank you, and I received a pack of photos as well. Some of the thank yous left me near tears, and I'm not that easily moved.

Overall, I'm a supporter of Donors Choose (and it's donorschoose.org), except that I have an internal conflict wondering why schools (and in NYC the per-student spending yearly average is something like $11K) aren't providing these basic kinds of learning materials. I find that hard to get over.

I don't have personal experience with them, but my understanding is the fulfillment fee, usually 15%, is optional for donors and used to cover expenses of doing business. I'm not sure what happens if the donor chooses not to include the fulfillment fee. As far as I can tell, there is not cost for the teacher or school getting the funding.

Is anyone familiar with this group? It's a non-profit web site where teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. Donors browse the site and choose if/where to contribute.

It's been getting some press lately, but - if I read it correctly - they charge a 15-25% commission ("fullfillment fee") on matching each donation with donors. That seems kind of steep to me, but everything I read about the group is positive.

Does anyone have any personal experience with them?