Charity of the week: MathCounts
The activities at MouthCounts makes math more challenging and fun for middle-school students.
MathCounts (mathcounts.org) aims to instill confidence and curiosity in American middle-school students by making math more exciting, fun, and challenging. Each year, the organization distributes a free handbook of math problem sets to every middle school in the country, and teachers and volunteers coach student “Mathletes” to participate in annual competitions. The students who take part develop their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills as they compete for scholarships, make friends with similar interests, and get to explore math and math-oriented careers in a creative way. Since the program began, in 1983, more than 6 million students have participated, and many have gone on to successful careers in science, technology, and engineering.
Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator, which ranks not-for-profit organizations on the strength of their finances, their control of administrative and fund-raising expenses, and the transparency of their operations. Four stars is the group’s highest ranking.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: 'The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip' and 'Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service'
Feature The tech titan behind Nvidia's success and the secret stories of government workers
By The Week US
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
By The Week US
-
How to see the Lyrid meteor shower
The explainer A nice time to look to the skies
By Devika Rao, The Week US