A non-profit startup called Wishbone is using the Internet to connect donors with underprivileged and at-risk kids hoping to participate in summer instructional programs in areas like computer science, bioengineering, art, and fashion.

Wishbone was founded in 2008 by former Teach for America high school English teacher Beth Schmidt but only recently launched Wishbone.org, a digital meeting ground for students needing assistance to attend summer programs and potential sponsors.

Profiles of students participating in the program indicate the areas of summer study they'd like to pursue, the idea being that would-be sponsors can more easily find a student whose interests match their own, according to Reed Matheny, outreach coordinator for Wishbone.org.

"We've had some good momentum since we've launched. We've been able to fully fund 12 of our students now," Matheny told PCMag recently. "They're ready to go to their summer programs. More than 50 percent of the rest are pretty close to being fully funded as well."

Wishbone is currently open to 9th through 12th graders from low-income families at a dozen schools located in New York and San Francisco, but hopes to expand to other schools and cities, Matheny said. The non-profit may also expand its mission to sponsor students for programs offered during the school year in addition to its summer program activities.

The initial online effort has already turned up some interesting data. Matheny said most sponsored students have received a steady stream of small donations rather than big lump sums, for example.

"So far it's been a big collection of smaller donations. A huge number of people are coming in and donating like $25 or even just $10. We do have some bigger donors who'll find a student they really like and donate $250 or something really sizable," he said.

For safety and propriety reasons, students and sponsors don't directly communicate. But Wishbone.org does post "success stories" about students who've secured funding for a summer program. Profiles include video messages from the students themselves and donors can also read about a sponsored student's experiences at an instructional program like the UC Davis Cosmos Camp, which one Wishbone student interested in bioengineering will attend this year.

Other Wishbone kids are headed for fashion design and technology camps in New York this summer, and a couple of Bay Area kids will attend an art program at San Francisco's Academy of Art, Matheny said.

Several students still need funding for their summer camp dreams, he noted. The good news is that those programs don't start until late June and July, so there's plenty of time for interested PCMag readers to head over to Wishbone.org and contribute to a deserving student's cause.

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Wishbone Taps Power of the Net to Help At-Risk Kids