Harvest Mark, a subsidiary of Yotta Mark, gives annually to school garden projects. Harvest Mark is a Redwood City-based company and industry leader in food traceability. Currently, the company focuses on donating to high-poverty schools, but as the company continues to thrive, they plan to expand funding to benefit a wider reach of school garden projects, especially those programs they recognize as "model" programs. Visit: http://www.giftofgrowing.com for more information.

DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that connects individual and corporate sponsors who want to make a difference in public school programs. http://www.donorschoose.org. Teachers must develop a specific project for which they seek funding and the Donors Choose Administration verifies the school, teacher and project and then develops and indexes the post on their website by region and topic. The projects can then be viewed by anyone who is interested in donating.

Nationallabday.org* is a collaborative effort to support hands-on learning in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in public schools. Developed for 6-12 grade students, the website recommends developing a "hub" based project wherein local companies and national foundations support school programs by providing funding and volunteers to complete hands-on learning projects in Math and Science. Supported by the Obama Administration as well as NASA, The MacArthur Foundation, PBS, ACS and more, this is a great resource to guide teachers in the development of hands on lab based projects, especially for Bonny Doon's 4-6th grade students. If hands-on projects are designed with Bay Area resources (Science, Technology and Engineering Corporations) and the "hub" ideology in  mind, then schools can attract experts in the field to help guide and fund projects.
*more information below

Allforgood.org is volunteer service-oriented website where volunteers can locate projects in the subjects they find interesting. The website is linked to Serve.gov and the White House promotes both websites and volunteering in both the private and corporate sectors especially leading up to MLK National Service Day every January.

From the Presidential Blog 1-06-10: "Under the outstanding leadership of Arne Duncan, we've launched a $4 billion Race to the Top fund, one of the largest investments in education reform in history.  Through the Race to the Top, states are competing for funding -- and producing the most innovative programs in science and math will be an advantage in this competition...PBS and the National Science Teachers Association will also create a new online platform so science and math teachers can share best practices and learn from one another... I'm calling on all 200,000 scientists who work for the federal government to do their part in their communities:  to speak at schools, to create hands-on learning opportunities through efforts like National Lab Day, and to help stoke that same curiosity in students which perhaps led them to pursue a career in science in the first place.  NASA will also be launching an enrichment program to bring their scientists and engineers to students in the classroom and to bring students to NASA, so that they might experience that same sense of wonder and excitement while maybe learning a little bit at the same time.

Educate to Innovate Fund:

Among the initiatives announced by the President are:

• Five public-private partnerships that harness the power of media, interactive games, hands-on learning, and 100,000 volunteers to reach more than 10 million students over the next four years, inspiring them to be the next generation of makers, discoverers, and innovators.  These partnerships represent a combined commitment of over $260 million in financial and in-kind support.
• A commitment by leaders such as Sally Ride (the first female astronaut), Craig Barrett (former chairman of Intel), Ursula Burns (CEO, Xerox), Glenn Britt (CEO, Time Warner Cable), and Antonio Perez (CEO, Eastman Kodak) to increase the scale, scope, and impact of private-sector and philanthropic support for STEM education.  This coalition, with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, will recruit private sector leaders to serve as champions for STEM at the state level; mobilize resources to help scale successful STEM innovations; and raise awareness of the importance of STEM among parents and students.
• An annual science fair at the White House, showcasing the student winners of national competitions in areas such as science, technology, and robotics.

These programs are designed for 6-12 the grade students, but it is interesting to think about the next level...

“National Lab Day,” Bringing Hands-on Learning to Every Student:  National Lab Day is a historic grassroots effort, online at nationallabday.org, to bring hands-on learning to 10 million students by upgrading science labs, supporting project-based learning, and building communities of support for STEM teachers.  The effort is a partnership between science and engineering societies representing more than 2.5 million STEM professionals and almost 4 million educators, with strong financial support from the Hidary Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and industry partners. Collectively, this partnership is committed to working with more than 10,000 teachers and 1 million students within a year, and 100,000 teachers and 10 million students over the next four years.   

National STEM Game Design Competitions: The MacArthur Foundation, Sony Computer Entertainment America, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and its partners (the Information Technology Industry Council, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, and Microsoft) are launching a nationwide set of competitions that include the design of the most compelling, freely-available STEM-related videogames for children and youth. The competitions will include the 2010 Digital Media and Learning Competition, a $2 million yearly effort supported by the MacArthur Foundation that advances the most innovative approaches to learning through games, social networks and mobile devices. One of the competitions will be open only to children, to help them develop 21st century knowledge and skills through the challenge of game design.  This year Sony will participate in one segment of the competition and encourage the development of new games that build on the existing popular video game Little Big Planet.