Charles Best leads DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit organization that provides a simple, personal, and accountable way for people to address educational inequity. At DonorsChoose.org, public school teachers post classroom project requests so that donors can pick the projects they want to support. Every donor then gets photographs and thank-you letters from the classroom he or she chose to help. Recognition of DonorsChoose.org includes the Amazon.com Nonprofit Innovation Award, selection by Ashoka, and election by the TechCrunch community as the website “most likely to make the world a better place.” FORTUNE has twice featured Charles in the “40 under 40” list of “business’ hottest rising stars.” In 2010, Oprah Winfrey announced DonorsChoose.org as one of her “Ultimate Favorite Things.” Also, in 2011, Fast Company listed DonorsChoose.org as one of the “50 Most Innovative Companies in the World,” the first time a charity has received this recognition.
