A good way to spend your money and be like Stephen Colbert

If Stephen Colbert can do it, so can you:

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - January 12, 2009) - DonorsChoose.org today announced that Stephen Colbert, host of "The Colbert Report," has joined the Board of Directors of DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit website connecting donors with classroom needs in public schools.

"Stephen Colbert has been a longtime supporter of DonorsChoose.org," said Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org. "His on-air advocacy has been directly responsible for more than 60,000 students getting resources they need to learn. We're thrilled that Stephen is now joining our Board of Directors."

"Donorschoose.org allows anyone who wants to help children learn to make a donation directly to a specific classroom," said Stephen Colbert. "As I endeavor to protect our nation from bears, Donorshcoose.org is protecting public school kids from classrooms that lack books, art supplies, technology, and field trips. I'm honored to join the Donorschoose.org Board of Directors -- there aren't any bears on it, right?"

Colbert first partnered with DonorsChoose.org in October of 2007 after announcing his entrance into the South Carolina presidential primary. He urged viewers to donate to South Carolina classroom requests on DonorsChoose.org in lieu of actual donations to his candidacy. Colbert's promotion inspired $68,000 in donations to requests benefitting 17,000 students in South Carolina public schools.

Several months later, Colbert invited supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to do the same. As a lead-up to the Pennsylvania primary, he created a "straw poll that makes a difference," where people could donate to Pennsylvania classroom projects in honor of their favorite candidate. Colbert viewers donated $185,000 to projects reaching 43,000 students in Pennsylvania public schools.

For the last two months, Colbert has given a $100 DonorsChoose.org gift certificate to each guest who appears on his show. The guest can then pick a classroom request on DonorsChoose.org to support. Individuals ranging from Mike Huckabee, to Joe Scarborough, to Bob Lutz have applied this "gift of giving" to classroom projects which compel them.

"DonorsChoose.org is a website where anyone can be an education philanthropist," said former Senator Bill Bradley, who last year joined the organization's Board of Directors. "This model has the potential to unleash the generosity of the American people, and Stephen Colbert could be instrumental in helping us to realize that potential."

DonorsChoose.org is a nonprofit website where public school teachers describe specific educational projects for their students, and donors can pick the projects they want to support. After completing a project, the donor gets photographs and thank-you letters from the classroom he/she chose to help.

To date, 55,000 public school teachers have used the site to secure funding for $26 million of books, art supplies, technology, and other resources that their students need to learn. Through DonorsChoose.org, individuals from all walks of life have helped 1,625,000 students from low-income families.