Charles Best

Charles Best is the founder of DonorsChoose, a nonprofit website which enables anyone to help a classroom in need. Charles launched the organization in 2000 at a Bronx public high school where he taught history for five years. To date, teachers at more than 85% of all the public schools in America have created classroom project requests on DonorsChoose, and more than 4.5 million people and partners have given $1.4 billion to those projects.

In 2023, Charles became Co-CEO of Lakeshore Learning, a company dedicated to creating innovative educational materials that spark young imaginations, instill a sense of wonder, and foster a lifelong love of learning.

"Teachers are a national treasure, and we should honor them as such." 

- Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose and Co-CEO of Lakeshore Learning