You can help protect America’s school children by making a donation.
The Pollution Detectives is a small, 501(c)(3) nonprofit incorporated in the State of North Carolina. Our mission is to lend expensive but simple-to-use electronic equipment to students, teachers, and parents that make invisible threats to human health and life success visible, at no cost to the school.
As of this writing, we loan equipment to survey:
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- Indoor air quality (both for its impact on learning, and health)
- Drinking water for unhealthy levels of lead
- Indoor environments for radon gas
- Walls, floors and ceilings for excessive moisture and mold
- Enclosed spaces for refrigerant leaks
We have helped people inspect over 40 K-12 schools in North Carolina and found significant opportunities to raise student test scores one or two letter grades while reducing illness among students and teachers. Fixing the problems identified through surveys is often surprisingly inexpensive.
During 2026, given sufficient donations, we will expand our operations to include the homes of students and educators.
Surveying a school for indoor air quality learning and health related issues costs us about $100 per school per week, (assuming you are going to survey 8 classrooms for a week), plus shipping, which costs about $25.00 each way.
In the case of testing for lead in the drinking water, the cost to us is around $15.00 per test run. (A typical primary and middle school has between 8 and 12 drinking fountains, and a few faucets in the food preparation area, so the cost would be between $80 and $100 per school). This compares well to the $50.00 per sample charged by outside laboratories.
Surveying a school for radon costs us about $10 per school.
The majority of working hours put into this project are done by experienced and knowledgeable volunteers. We have a few folks with specialty skills who work around 10 hours a week for pay at modest hourly rates.
The vast majority of your donation will go to cover the cost of the equipment we lend out to make invisible pollution visible.
Anyone can donate to our charitable organization through an electronic funds transfer or direct deposit, using the information at the bottom of this page. In addition, if you or your parents have passed the milestone of age 73 and maintain a retirement account (e.g., traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k), 403(b), 457(b)), you are probably aware of the mixed blessing known as the Required Minimum Distribution. To exclude these dollars from taxable income on your return, instruct your account Trustee to donate directly to the routing number and savings account below.
To make an electronic funds transfer or direct deposit to our savings account at Nova Credit Union, please use the following information:
Routing Number: 253075031
Savings Account: 1000001384502.
If you have any questions, you can reach out to us at info@thepollutiondetectives.org.