Bill and Melinda Gates have given nearly $1 million to cover local teachers’ wish lists through DonorsChoose.org, a website that puts Joe Citizen in the philanthropist seat.

Friday, days before 70,000 $25 gift cards were to be mailed to Memphis City School parents, there weren’t enough projects on the site to absorb Memphis’ share of the wealth. Each gift card entitles the user to direct $25 to any teacher’s project request.

A teacher may have three requests on the site at once. Memphis City Schools has 7,000 teachers.

“We’ve had projects on the board, but there are so many people interested, they are being funded quicker than we can put them up there,” said Lachell Boyd, teacher liaison to the seven-year teacher effectiveness program, also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Often, teachers don’t know the likelihood of their projects being funded. DonorsChoose has told us that the first 300 teachers with projects of $500 or less have 100 percent chance of being funded.”