DonorsChoose Open Data, United States, 2002-2019 (ICPSR 37898)

Version Date: Dec 2, 2025

Cite this study |

Principal Investigator(s):
DonorsChoose

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37898.v1

Version V1

Slide tabs to view more

Summary

DonorsChoose.org is a crowdfunding website for public school teachers in the United States. Teachers at 84% of public schools have posted a project on the site. This data collection is sourced from the DonorsChoose public website. It includes user and system activity: projects posted by teachers on the website, donations that were applied to those projects, and resources requested for each project. These data cover all projects that were posted from September 2002 to June 30, 2019, and activity on them through December 31, 2019.

The donations data (n=11,377,479; 11 variables) include amount, donor type, and whether the donation was matched.

The resources data (n=13,291,370; 5 variables) include item name, unit price, quantity, and category of resource.

The public-use projects data (n=2,149,817; 28 variables) include title, category, state, grade level, date posted, and a unique identifier for the teacher.

The restricted-use projects data (n=2,149,817; 6 variables) include large open text fields such as the need statement and thank you note.

Citation

DonorsChoose. DonorsChoose Open Data, United States, 2002-2019. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-12-02. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37898.v1

Export Citation:

  • RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
  • EndNote

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

State

Restrictions

This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, the data files in this collection are restricted from general dissemination. To obtain these restricted files, researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
Hide

Time Period(s)

2002-09 -- 2019-12

Date of Collection

2020-06
Hide

Study Purpose

As part of their mission, DonorsChoose makes anonymized data available to researchers to help generate insights and to try to improve public education.

Universe

All projects posted on DonorsChoose.org from September 2002 to June 2019.

Unit(s) of Observation

Projects: each record represents a project., Donations: each record represents a donation., Resources: each record represents a resource requested.

Data Type(s)

Hide

Original Release Date

2025-12-02

Hide

Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • ICPSR usually offers files in multiple formats for researchers to be able to access data and documentation in formats that work well within their needs. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR’s Accessibility Center.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.