Best decided to do something about that. His new Web site (DonorsChoose.org) is not just helping-directly helping-New York City kids, it may eventually change the face of philanthropy. I know, because I tried it.

Like all revolutionary ideas, Best’s is deceptively simple. His site-a model of user-friendliness-asks New York City public school teachers to write a one-page summary of class projects and the amount of money it would cost to fund them. Potential donors scan the list and decide which project to fund. No contrived grant applications. No fancy buildings full of grant reviewers and well-paid foundation executives. No grant-making process at all.

So far, more than 130 teacher projects have been funded, in amounts ranging from $70 for some books to $12,000 for laptops for students in an economics class, funded entirely by a Seattle entrepreneur. The tax-deductible money goes through Best’s registered 501c (until recently run out of his lower Manhattan apartment). Unless the donor specifically chooses to contribute 10 percent extra for administration, not a penny goes for overhead. That compares to 35 percent for many charities. After the books, equipment, field trips, etc. (I’m not doing justice to the creativity of the projects) are purchased, the teacher sends a receipt to DonorsChoose, plus thank-you notes from the kids and photographs of them using the gift. All of this is then forwarded to the satisfied donor.

A SPREADING IDEA

“Our mission is to help students in need and to democratize philanthropy,” says Best, who has partnered with Teach for America (http://www.teachforamerica.org/tfa/) and other groups focused on improving education in poor districts. “We’ve established a free marketplace of teacher ideas and donor interests.” Best still teaches social studies full-time at the Wings Academy public school in the Bronx; he explained his program to me by phone last week during his lunch hour. But the idea, hatched two years ago, is now growing fast.

So far, donors in 23 states have funded everything from sports programs for schools displaced by the attack on the World Trade Center to oxygen meters for a science class measuring pollution in the Bronx River to life-size “Baby Think It Over” dolls designed to show preteens what they’re in for if they get pregnant. DonorsChoose screens the teachers’ proposals and won’t post any that are too outlandish, like the one from a teacher who sought $50,000 for a culinary excursion to Paris.

I logged on to DonorsChoose.org (http://donorschoose.org/index.html) with the idea of doing something in the arts and humanities. At first I thought about contributing a portion of the cost of establishing an architects-in-residence program, but I decided I wanted to start out trying to fund something all by myself. Some bookbinding equipment for an art class looked intriguing but was too pricey. After an enjoyable tour of the teachers’ proposals, I settled on buying a class of students at Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx copies of a moving and important chronicle of World War I that I first encountered in high school-“All Quiet on the Western Front.”

NO EXCUSE FOR BEING STINGY

The resistance to ideas like DonorsChoose is easy enough to predict. The New York Board of Education is lukewarm, mostly because it isn’t part of the action. God forbid teachers get resources for their classrooms without going through a bureaucrat.

Others are concerned that the Web site will create jealousies and favor Internet-savvy teachers. This might be true if the idea had degenerated into competitive grantsmanship or required elaborate computer navigational skills. But so far, the process is simple and the competition between classes is limited. If it favors teachers with a little moxie, that’s a preference that’s good for the system-and encourages other teachers to agitate more for their own classroom needs. And because the students are the only beneficiaries, there’s little room for empire building.

Best’s concept is beginning to spread to other cities. Teachers in Washington, Los Angeles and Cincinnati are starting their own versions of DonorsChoose.org, and there’s interest in using the technology to build international understanding. Recently, Muslim students at a school in Kuwait received a stack of books on New York City to supplement their reading of the Koran.

DonorsChoose reminds me a little of eBay in its early stages; it’s a great fit for the Internet. Bad imitators are already emerging, and the idea will no doubt be perverted by someone hawking phony needs with weeping kids. But in the meantime, this site does the nearly impossible-it takes away our last excuse for being stingy.