Net 60, tax-exempt, and approved-vendor accounts for schools.Every reply comes from a person, within two business days.Priority production for fall closes September 30.
My Toy Wagon is not a DonorsChoose partner or approved vendor, and this page is not
endorsed by or affiliated with DonorsChoose. It is our own guide for using their
Special Request feature.
Teachers paying it forward
Have My Toy Wagon help you with your DonorsChoose application.
Teachers have funded more than 3.5 million classroom projects through
DonorsChoose. You can use it for our materials, and it costs you nothing. It takes one extra
step that nobody explains, so a teacher explained it to us and we wrote it down.
We write the quote · DonorsChoose pays us directly · Free educator account, usually approved the same day
“I feel as if I have a million people cheering me on.”
Monique Dituri, high school teacher, New Jersey, quoted by DonorsChoose
The leading way to give to public schools. A 501(c)(3) running since 2000, it vets every
request, ships funded resources straight to the classroom, and reports back to donors.
Charity Navigator and GuideStar both award it their highest ratings.
3,571,902classroom projects funded
1,026,619teachers who have received funding
6,799,465donors nationwide
$1.97bcontributed since 2000
DonorsChoose's own published totals, read from their site in August 2026. They have been
running since 2000, they vet every request, and Charity Navigator and GuideStar both give
them their highest ratings.
Where we stand
We are not on the vendor list.
We are not a DonorsChoose approved vendor. Their shopping portal runs on a
fixed list of about twenty-two stores, and it is built for companies far bigger than us.
That is not a problem to work around. It is exactly what the Special Request is for.
DonorsChoose built that route so a teacher who wants something specific is not limited to
whoever is large enough to be in the portal. Every year, teachers use it to fund materials
from small makers, local suppliers, and shops like ours.
The catch is that nobody tells you how. There is no orientation. Teachers work it out
once, the hard way, and then most of that knowledge stays in one classroom.
So we wrote it down. Everything below came from a teacher who had already
done it and was willing to explain it to the next person. That is the whole method here. We
use each other as a resource, and the person who just figured it out tells the person about
to try.
You do not have to spend a dollar with us to use this page. If it helps you
fund a room from somebody else entirely, that is a good outcome. Take it.
01
First, earn six points.
Our materials sit outside the DonorsChoose shopping portal, so requesting them takes
what DonorsChoose calls a Special Request. You need six points before you
can create one. Your points are under Private Info in your teacher account.
If you are not there yet, the fastest route is to run one small project from the
DonorsChoose vendor list first. Classroom books, storage, supplies you need anyway. Fund
it, write your impact letter, send your students' thank-you notes, and the points follow.
Typically two funded projects with completed thank-you packages gets you to six.
02
Start the Special Request before you shop.
This is the one thing worth getting right. You can combine a Special Request with items
from the DonorsChoose portal, but only if you create the Special Request first.
If you fill your cart from the portal and then try to add ours, the project cannot be
converted, and you will have to start again.
Your cart has to be empty for the Special Request link to appear.
You will find it at the bottom of the vendor list on the WHAT page. Add portal items afterward.
Pick the right kind of request
DonorsChoose offers two. Classroom Essentials is a short curated list of
basics, has no minimum, needs no essay, and ships items as they are funded. Classroom
Project is the full catalog, takes a written essay, and has a $100
minimum. A Special Request lives in the Classroom Project flow, so that is the one to
start.
Classroom Projects are all or nothing. Nothing ships until you
reach your goal, which is the real argument for keeping the number reachable. DonorsChoose says
a first project takes about twenty minutes to build, and their team screens it and puts it live
in about three days.
03
We write the quote.
Email educators@mytoywagon.com with your
grade level, what you are building, and your budget. We reply within two business days with
a formal quote you can upload as your payment document.
If you would rather describe the room and let us suggest the list, do that instead. One
of us reads it and answers. That is a normal part of what we do, not a favor.
What we put on your quote
DonorsChoose has a checklist for payment documents. Ours is built to meet it,
so your project is not held up in review.
Company letterhead, with our address, phone, and email
Every item priced separately, including size, color, and quantity
Shipping shown as a line, even when it is zero
Tax where it applies, and your exemption certificate noted where it does not
Your school's shipping address
Dated the day we send it
If you want your name on the quote, tell us the spelling you use on your
DonorsChoose account. They check that the two match.
You will be asked for the quote twice
Once when you create the project, and again after it funds, because projects can run for
months and most quotes go stale in the meantime.
Ours will not. We hold your pricing for the whole funding window, so when
your project funds you can note that the vendor has confirmed the price is unchanged rather
than coming back to us for a new document. If you would rather have a fresh one anyway, ask
and we will send it the same day.
What funds well
DonorsChoose reports that 66% of projects reach their goal.
Size is the part of that you control, and the flat fee below is the reason size matters more
than it looks.
Most of our catalog sits well inside a fundable project, which means you can ask for
several pieces rather than one.
$58median price of an educator item
94%of our educator range is under $400
72%is under $100
A tray range, a puppet collection for circle time, or a felt habitat set with
the figures to go in it all sit comfortably inside a fundable project. The whole-room sets
are better suited to a purchase order.
Freight is charged at cost and shown as its own line, which is what
DonorsChoose asks for.
The number donors see is not the number on our quote
DonorsChoose adds its own costs to a vendor quote, and one of them is flat. Their published
breakdown, as of the 2026 to 2027 school year, works like this:
Your quote, materials plus shipping plus tax
Payment processing, 1.5 percent
Fulfillment labor and materials, a flat $30 on every project
That total is the project cost. The displayed goal adds an optional
15 percent donation to DonorsChoose, which donors can decline.
The flat $30 is why very small projects are inefficient. A single $58 tray
becomes roughly a $105 goal, because the $30 sits on top regardless. The same $30 barely
registers on a larger request.
$58of materials → about a $115 goal, a 98% uplift
$300of materials → about a $446 goal, a 49% uplift
$250–$325the range where the flat fee stops dominating and the goal stays reachable
Both figures include freight, because you will be paying it and DonorsChoose
wants it itemised. Freight is why a goal always lands higher than the sticker prices you added
up, and it is why the six rooms below come out where they do.
Figures above are DonorsChoose's own, current as of August 2026. They
set them, not us, so check their help center if something looks different when you build your
project.
So do not request a single item. Build a project of $250 to $325 of materials,
which with freight lands a goal of roughly $380 to $480. Tell us the goal you
want and we will build the quote backward from it.
If your school is tax exempt, send us the certificate once and we will keep it
on file so our quotes read zero tax. Worth knowing that DonorsChoose calculates sales tax on its
own side for certain states, and their rules are not always the same as ours, so a tax line can
still appear on the project even when our quote shows none. Ask them if it does.
Six rooms, costed out.
The hardest part is not the paperwork. It is knowing what to ask for. These
are real projects at the size that funds, built from things we actually stock, with the goal
worked all the way through so you can see where the number lands.
A calm corner
Suits Pre-K through Kindergarten
Somewhere to go when the room is loud
Two trays a child can work at alone, a rockpool set for pouring and sorting, and a card deck for the transition back. This is the project to run if you are asked most often for a regulation space and have nowhere to put one.
Sand Tray with AccessoriesWooden Story$74
Rockpool Tray and TongsPapoose$80
Wooden Sensory Exploration Tray with Magnifying BlocksPapoose$80
Yoga CardsMindful & Co Kids$42
Materials
$276.00
Freight, estimated at cost
$41.40
Payment processing, 1.5%
$4.14
DonorsChoose fulfillment, flat
$30.00
Project cost
$351.54
Goal your donors see
$413.58
A nature table
Suits Pre-K through Grade 2
The season, brought indoors and changed every month
One sorting tray that anchors the table, and three loose collections that rotate through it. Because the pieces are open ended rather than a single set, the table reads differently in October than it does in March, which is what keeps children returning to it.
My Forest Floor Tinker TrayTender Leaf Toys$100
Bird Eggs in a Basket · 12 piecesMoon Picnic$65
Mushrooms in a Basket · 15 piecesMoon Picnic$62
Woodland Leaves · 40 piecesMoon Picnic$52
Materials
$279.00
Freight, estimated at cost
$41.85
Payment processing, 1.5%
$4.19
DonorsChoose fulfillment, flat
$30.00
Project cost
$355.04
Goal your donors see
$417.69
A small world
Suits Kindergarten through Grade 3
One habitat, and the animals that live in it
Four habitat mats give you the ground, and the deer give children somebody to speak for. This is the project for a class ready to build a story and keep returning to it across a term. Add the Ancient Oak Tree at $98 if your goal has room for it.
Tiny Tale Terrains, Set of 4Gus + Mabel$168
Deer Family SetBumbu Toys$115
Materials
$283.00
Freight, estimated at cost
$42.45
Payment processing, 1.5%
$4.25
DonorsChoose fulfillment, flat
$30.00
Project cost
$359.70
Goal your donors see
$423.18
A field science station
Suits Grade 1 through Grade 4
Equipment small enough for hands, real enough to trust
Everything a class needs to go outside, collect something, bring it back, and look at it properly. It is the most STEM-legible project on this page, which matters because DonorsChoose donors search that way, and every piece works from pre-K through elementary.
Q Toys Wooden MicroscopeQ Toys$48
Wooden BinocularsQ Toys$54
Magnifier Set, Set of 2Huckleberry by Kikkerland$47
Specimen Collecting KitJune & December$34
Felt Lifecycle of a Monarch ButterflyTara Treasures$32
Wooden Compass, walnut with a cherry or maple baseCamden Rose$22
My Little Museum Bug BoxHuckleberry by Kikkerland$21
Materials
$258.00
Freight, estimated at cost
$38.70
Payment processing, 1.5%
$3.87
DonorsChoose fulfillment, flat
$30.00
Project cost
$330.57
Goal your donors see
$388.91
A building bench
Suits Grade 2 through Grade 5
Magnetic tiles, and the flat ground to build them on
Base plates are the part most classrooms forget, and they are what lets a structure survive
being bumped. The PRO set adds the pieces older builders want, so this project reads as
engineering rather than early years, which matters if you teach upper elementary and keep
getting sent things meant for four-year-olds.
Connetix Tiles PRO Constructor Set 70 pcConnetix$99
Connetix Tiles 60 Piece Set Starter PackConnetix$85
Connetix Tiles 2 Piece Base Plate Blue & GreenConnetix$55
Egg to hen, spawn to frog, caterpillar to butterfly, larva to bee. Each set is felt, so a
child lays the stages out and moves them, rather than looking at a poster. Life cycles are one
of the few things nearly every early elementary standard asks for by name, which makes this an
easy project for a donor outside education to understand at a glance.
Chicken Life CycleTara Treasures$80
Frog Life CycleTara Treasures$80
Butterfly Life CycleTara Treasures$71
Honey Bee Life CycleTara Treasures$71
Materials
$302.00
Freight, estimated at cost
$45.30
Payment processing, 1.5%
$4.53
DonorsChoose fulfillment, flat
$30.00
Project cost
$381.83
Goal your donors see
$449.21
Prices are our educator prices as of August 2026 and can move when a maker
changes theirs. Freight above is an estimate for illustration. On a real quote we charge the
actual cost of the shipment, which is usually lower on a single carton going to one address.
Sales tax is shown as zero because most of the schools we quote are exempt. If yours is not,
add your rate and the goal rises by roughly that much.
Want to build your own instead of picking one of these?
The catalog is trade only, so the full range and the prices sit behind a free educator
account. Section 01, Sensory Play, is open to everyone if you want to see how a section
reads first. Apply for an account, it takes a few
minutes and is usually approved the same day.
None of these are fixed kits. Swap anything, cut a piece to hit a lower goal,
or send us your grade level and the number you are aiming at and we will build the list to
match.
What we do differently
None of this costs you anything. It exists because a funding deadline is a
real deadline, and paperwork should not be the thing that breaks it.
You will not need a second quote
DonorsChoose asks for a second payment document after your project funds, because most
quotes go stale over the months a project runs. Ours will not.
We hold your price for the life of your project. DonorsChoose gives every
project four months and then expires it, so that is the window, and it ends when your project
does. When you fund, you can simply tell them the vendor has confirmed the price is unchanged.
If a maker raises a price inside that window, we absorb it rather than pushing it onto your
project.
Send us your project link when you post and the hold runs to your real expiry
date. If we never see the link, we hold it five months from the date on the quote, which
covers a project posted promptly.
We build the quote backward from your goal
Tell us the number you want donors to see and we will assemble a list that lands near
it, with the flat fee and the fifteen percent already accounted for. You should not have to
do that arithmetic.
Same day on a re-quote
If you would rather hand them a fresh document than a note, ask and it goes out the same
day. Never wait on us while a funding window closes.
Will they approve it?
A Special Request is allowed when the materials are not already available
through the DonorsChoose shopping portal. Most of what we carry is not, but it is worth being
precise, because a reviewer reads the request rather than our website.
Their vendor directory is twenty-two companies, and they are the large specialists: Amazon
Business, AKJ Books, Best Buy Education, Blick Art Materials, Carolina Biological Supply
Company, CDW, DonorsChoose Featured Favorites, Grainger, Kaplan Early Learning Company,
Lakeshore Learning, LEGO Education, Mahogany Books, Nasco, Quill, Scholastic Classroom
Magazines, School Specialty, Staples, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teachers' School Supply, TIME For
Kids, Ward's Science, and Woodwind & Brasswind. Between them they list over a million
products, which is exactly why a reviewer will ask whether yours is one of them.
Two of them, Kaplan and Lakeshore, serve early childhood well and are worth
your budget for furniture, storage, and classroom basics. Neither carries hand-felted play mats
from a Kathmandu workshop, maple trays cut one silhouette at a time in Michigan, or wooden
figures from a family workshop in Romania. Nobody on that list does. We work with about forty makers
across thirteen countries, almost all of them small enough that a portal built for a million
SKUs was never going to carry them.
Name the maker in your request. "A sensory tray" invites the
answer that Lakeshore sells sensory trays. "A Button & Bug maple tray, cut to order in
Michigan" does not, because nobody in the directory carries it. The distinction is the maker and
the construction, not the category, so say the maker out loud. We will put it on the quote too.
04
Then share it, and watch the timing.
You have four months to raise the funds. DonorsChoose reports that 66% of projects
reach their goal, and the ones that get shared widely are heavily represented in that
number. Sharing is not optional garnish. It is the single biggest thing you control.
Write during a match period. Matches cluster around back to school in
August, Teacher Appreciation in May, Giving Tuesday in November, and December. Current
offers are listed at
donorschoose.org/match-offers.
Give the project a real title. Something a stranger would open.
Be specific about the children. Donors fund a classroom they can
picture, not a list of materials.
Name the skill, not the toy. "Tactile exploration and fine-motor
practice" reads as classroom learning to somebody outside education. "Wooden rainbow tray"
reads as a wish list. Both are true, so lead with the skill and let the object follow.
Add one photo of the corner the materials will live in. Even a quick
phone shot of an empty shelf. It shows a donor that the project is a real place in a real
room rather than a list.
Move in the first 48 hours, and to three audiences. Your parents, your
school community, and one local group outside school. Early momentum is the part of this you
actually control.
Tell everyone. Family, former parents, your own social feeds.
#clearthelist is where teachers gather.
05
When it funds.
DonorsChoose pays us directly. Nothing comes out of your pocket, and there is nothing for
you to buy and claim back. Because we work from an invoice, they use their check route: we
send the invoice, they mail us a check, and we begin as soon as it lands. You are not in the
middle of any of that.
Then we make it. Most of what we carry is made to order by small workshops, and typical
lead times run three to eight weeks. A few pieces come in on a twice-yearly
import and take longer. We flag those on the quote so nothing is a surprise.
This is slower than DonorsChoose leads you to expect, and you should
know that before you post. Their guidance says materials arrive in about two weeks,
which is accurate for a portal vendor shipping from a warehouse. We are not that. Nothing we
sell sits in a bin waiting, which is the reason it is worth having and also the reason it takes
longer. Post early, and if a date matters, tell us first.
Send us the link the day you post. One line to
educators@mytoywagon.com
with your project URL. It is the single most useful thing you can do, and it is easy to forget.
Two things happen when you do. Where the pieces allow it we begin sourcing straight away
rather than waiting for the check, so your materials are ready or close to it by the time the
project funds. And we share the project ourselves, which costs us nothing and helps you reach
donors outside your own circle.
We cannot see your project unless you send it. DonorsChoose does not tell
vendors when a request naming them goes live, so if we do not hear from you the first we know is
the check.
If you have a hard date, a first day of term or an observation, say so before you
submit. We will build the quote around what can genuinely arrive in time, and we would rather
swap a piece than miss the date.
Pay it forward
This page is built from teachers' questions.
Every answer below started as an email from someone working out how to fund a
room. If you ask us something that is not here, we will answer you first and then add it, so the
next teacher does not have to ask.
We publish the question, never the person. No name, no school, no district, unless you tell us
in writing that you would like to be credited. If you would rather your question stayed between
us, say so and it will.
Nothing you send us is used for marketing. We are not building a mailing list out
of funding questions.
If your project funds, we would love a photograph
Not of the children. Of the room. The tray on the table, the felt habitat on
the shelf, the puppets in the basket on a Monday morning. Those pictures are the only honest
answer to a principal asking what this actually looks like in a classroom, and they are worth
more than anything we could write ourselves.
No students in frame. No faces, no names, no work with a name on it.
DonorsChoose asks the same of you, and we would rather have an empty room than a difficult
conversation.
You choose how you are credited. Your name and school, your first name and
grade, or nothing at all. We will use exactly what you write down and nothing more.
You can change your mind. Email us and it comes down that day, without
any explanation needed.
If you would like to say a sentence about how the materials are working, we will run it beside
the photograph, in your words rather than ours. We will never write a testimonial for you or
tidy one into something you did not say.
No educator account is needed for a DonorsChoose quote. You will want one to
browse the catalog, since prices and the full range are trade only.
Apply here, it is free and usually approved the same day.
Questions we get
Asked by teachers, answered here so the next one does not have to ask.
Why are you not on the DonorsChoose vendor list?
Because we are small. The vendor list is built around large suppliers who can integrate with the DonorsChoose shopping portal. The Special Request exists precisely so teachers are not limited to that list, and it is a normal, supported route rather than an exception. It adds one step: you create the Special Request first, and you upload our quote as your payment document.
How much should I ask for?
Build a project of $250 to $350 of materials, which lands near a $300 to $400 goal. That is not arbitrary. DonorsChoose adds a flat $30 to every project, so a single small item carries an uplift of roughly 80 percent while a $300 request carries about 31 percent. Below that range you are asking donors to fund the fee. Well above it, the goal gets hard to finish.
What can I actually get for that?
Several pieces, not one. At our prices a $250 to $325 project is typically three to seven items: a couple of trays plus a card deck for a calm corner, a sorting tray with loose collections for a nature table, habitat mats with the figures to go on them for a small world, or a whole field science station with a microscope, binoculars, magnifiers, and a collecting kit. Six fully costed examples are on this page, with the goal worked through on each one.
Do I need an account with My Toy Wagon?
Not to get a quote. Tell us what you are building and we will price it, and you can run
the whole DonorsChoose project without ever making one.
You do need one to browse. The catalog is trade only, so prices and the full range are
behind an educator account, and Section 01, Sensory Play, is the one section open to
everyone. So if you want to walk the shelves and assemble your own list rather than
describe a room to us, apply first. It is free, it takes a few minutes, and approval is
usually the same day. If you would rather not, describing the room works just as well and we
do the assembling.
Can I mix your materials with things from the DonorsChoose portal?
Yes, as long as you create the Special Request first and add the portal items
afterward. It does not work the other way around.
Who actually buys the materials?
DonorsChoose does. For a vendor like us who works from an invoice, they send a check
directly to us and we ship to your school. You never pay and then wait to be reimbursed.
What if my project does not fully fund?
Classroom Projects on DonorsChoose are all or nothing, so nothing ships unless you reach your goal. If you do not, DonorsChoose lets your donors redirect what they gave to your next project, so the money is not lost to you. On our side nothing happens at all. The quote simply expires. Write us again whenever you are ready and we will issue a fresh one.
Am I eligible to use DonorsChoose?
DonorsChoose requires that you are employed full time at a US public or public charter school and that you work directly with students at least 75 percent of the time. They report that teachers at over 91 percent of US public schools have already signed up. Their site has the full eligibility rules, and they are the ones who decide.
Who owns the materials once they arrive?
The classroom does. DonorsChoose asks that resources be directly experienced by the students described in your project essay, and after that they stay with the classroom they were requested for so future groups keep the benefit. They are not yours to take with you if you move schools.
DonorsChoose says two weeks. Your lead times are longer. Which is right?
Both, for different vendors. Two weeks is realistic for a portal vendor picking stock off a shelf. Almost nothing we sell is on a shelf. It is made to order by a small workshop, and three to eight weeks is normal, with a few twice-yearly imports running longer. We put the lead time on the quote for every line so you can see it before you post, and if you have a hard date we will build the list around what can actually arrive.
The gap is smaller than it looks, if you send us the project link. We do
not wait for the check. The day your project goes live we start sourcing whatever can be
started, so the making happens while the funding does rather than after it. Most of the wait
is the funding window, not us.
How long is a quote good for?
For DonorsChoose we hold the price for the life of your project. DonorsChoose expires
projects at four months, so that is the ceiling, and it means you can tell them the price is
unchanged rather than chasing a second document from us. Our standard school quotes are held
forty-five days.
Should I include shipping and tax in my project?
Yes to both. DonorsChoose asks for them on the payment document even when they are zero,
so we always show them. Freight is charged at cost. If your school is tax exempt, send us the
certificate and our quotes will read zero tax, though DonorsChoose applies its own tax rules
for certain states and may still add a line on their side.
Can you help me write the project?
Within limits, and it is worth being clear about them. We can tell you how to describe
the materials so a reader outside education understands what they are and why they
are worth funding, since that is the part we actually know. Ask us anything about a piece on
your list and you will get a real answer. The essay itself is yours, and we do not write,
edit, or approve it.
