4 minSociety
North Carolina teachers get $2.25 million boost as classroom supply costs rise
Exponential Scholars funded every open North Carolina classroom project on DonorsChoose, covering more than 3,200 projects across 1,000 schools. The gift comes as teachers in the state spend an average of $1,632 of their own money on supplies each year.
A North Carolina nonprofit has cleared every open classroom supply request in the state, giving teachers relief from the growing cost of stocking their own classrooms. Exponential Scholars announced Monday that it funded all open North Carolina projects on DonorsChoose, the crowdfunding platform that connects teachers in high-need communities with donors. The $2.25 million donation covers more than 3,200 classroom projects across more than 1,000 schools.
The gift arrives as teachers across the state face rising out-of-pocket costs. According to a 2025 study by consumer platform CouponBirds, North Carolina teachers spend an average of $1,632 of their own money each year on classroom supplies. That figure marks a 22% jump from the previous year and ranks as the second-highest in the country, trailing only Pennsylvania by $5. The national average stands at $1,021.
The same survey found that 95% of teachers reported using personal funds for classroom materials, and 82% said their classrooms would suffer without that spending. Teacher pay has not kept pace with these costs. North Carolina's average teacher salary for the 2023–24 school year was $58,292, ranking 43rd nationally and nearly $14,000 below the national average, according to the National Education Association. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that teachers earn about 73 cents for every dollar made by similarly educated professionals.
Exponential Scholars was founded in 2025 by Holly May, who serves as president and CEO. May grew up in rural North Carolina in the 1990s, in a town of about 2,000 residents with a single elementary school. A full financial-aid scholarship to an independent school, followed by a full scholarship to Harvard College and a business career in San Francisco, shaped her belief that good fortune carries a duty to give back. She and her husband, Travis, returned to North Carolina to raise their family and launched the foundation to support gifted students in overlooked communities across the state.
The practice of clearing teacher supply wishlists is known as flash-funding. A notable earlier example came in 2015, when Stephen Colbert partnered with two organizations to cover roughly 1,000 South Carolina classroom projects with an $800,000 donation. Colbert has served on DonorsChoose's board of directors. Three years later, cryptocurrency company Ripple funded every open project on the site nationwide, some 35,647 campaigns, with a gift valued at $29 million.
DonorsChoose was founded in 2000 by former teacher Charles Best and has become one of the largest pipelines for classroom needs across the United States. More than 6 million supporters have contributed nearly $2 billion to more than 3 million projects, supporting more than 92,000 schools. In North Carolina specifically, more than 143,000 projects have been funded, according to the DonorsChoose site.
For North Carolina teachers whose requests were sitting open this week, the gift means books, pencils, lab equipment, and other supplies are now on their way. The funding removes the need for those educators to tap into personal savings to cover necessary materials for their jobs. May wrote that she still believes in the American Dream, adding that her own came true through hard work and using her gifts, and that the goal is to leave children more room for ambition and optimism than previous generations had.
