In 2006, Digital Wish founder Heather Chirtea's twins were enrolled in a small, rural elementary school on the brink of closure. In order to keep the school open and preserve its small class sizes, 62 kids embarked on a letter writing campaign to the local community describing the value of the school and explaining to community members exactly how they could help. In just 3 months, those 62 kids helped raise over $20,000 in donations, in-kind help, and volunteer hours that saved the school. Members of the community reported, "I wanted to help the school, I just didn't know how until the students' letters arrived." It was a powerful lesson. The community was ready to help, but they needed an organized mechanism to do so.

From this experience came the idea for a website to empower teachers to solve their own technology shortfalls by connecting classrooms with their communities using the Internet. A year later, www.digitalwish.org launched with a simple wish list feature and a few technology products. The need for classroom technology was so great that 1,000 teachers posted wishes in the first month. With such high demand, we began the process of turning Digital Wish into an official nonprofit organization.

In September of 2008, Digital Wish officially became a nonprofit and one week later Digital Wish received its first grant to scale operations and rebuild its website to serve the ever-increasing demand from teachers.

Since August 2009, Digital Wish has granted over 34,000 classroom technology wishes and delivered over $17 million in technology products to American classrooms. However, we've still only scratched the surface of the need.

In March of 2020, shortly after COVID-19 caused near total school closures nationwide, Digital Wish conducted a research study to identify the state of connectivity school-to-home. The survey of over 3,500 front line educators revealed that 10.6M students don't have at-home internet connectivity and 11.8M students don't have the computers necessary to access digital learning at home. Read The Education Connectivity Report here.

Teachers

Make a "Wish List" of technology items your classroom needs, then reach out to potential supporters who can buy wish list items or make cash contributions towards the new technology.

Just by registering on Digital Wish, you are automatically eligible for matching grants. You can also search for grants from a library of third-party sources or write a lesson plan to apply for a Digital Wish grant.

Build a giving page and recruit supporters for your classroom in a few mouse clicks! Start a recycling drive and earn money towards new technology for your classroom. Get creative ideas for raising money from our fundraising library, or start a letter writing campaign to tell your local community how they can support your classroom.

Visit the Lesson Plan Library and for a host of creative ideas for integrating technology into your curriculum - all written by teachers, for teachers.

Print flyers and tell your community about your wish list needs. You can also email your wish list to friends and family, create and share an online fundraising page, or invite friends to join your cause.

Supporters

Digital Wish believes that every child deserves a technology-rich education that will provide them with the skills necessary to excel in the global economy.

Use our simple class locator to browse for your favorite classrooms nationwide and purchase items directly from teachers' wish lists. All purchases ship directly to the schools. We even call the school to verify the educator's status, confirm the shipping address, and ensure that your donation reaches the intended classroom.

Donate funds to your favorite classroom online with the assurance that 100% of your funding will directly benefit the technology program. Educators can spend donated funds on new technology items for their classrooms at checkout. Digital Wish negotiates a constant stream of manufacturers' discounts and matching grants for schools so that your donated dollars go further!

Raise money for your favorite classroom! With just a few mouse clicks, you can create a fundraising page with online credit card processing that allows all of your friends and family to donate money directly to your favorite classroom account. Your Digital Wish fundraising web page can be quickly shared through Facebook, Twitter, and email, and posters can be printed directly from the site. Digital Wish has made recruiting potential supporters and raising money for technology as easy as clicking a button.

Tell your friends, family, and coworkers about Digital Wish and help make a deeper impact in American classrooms.

Invite

PTA / PTO

Digital Wish makes online fundraising with credit card processing easy!

Your organization can create an online giving page for any event in less than five minutes, then spread the word through Facebook, Twitter, and email. Any member of your PTA / PTO can set up an online fundraising page in just a few mouse clicks, complete with online credit card processing.

Digital Wish works directly with manufacturers to offer special discounts and matching programs that are ONLY available to schools. Simply browse for your favorite classroom and purchase items directly from the teacher's wish list. All manufacturers' discounts and matching programs will be automatically applied at checkout.