Education Week

Teachers Use Web Site That Connects Them With Donors of Supplies

Marianne D. Hurst
Wednesday, April 7, 2004

When Jerry Hall launched iLoveSchools.com, a Web service that allows teachers to request classroom supplies from donors nationwide, he was fulfilling a childhood promise.

"I always thought as a kid, when I got big and strong that I would help people. Now, I have the tools to pull [that] off," said Mr. Hall, the chief executive of eWebLab.com, a San Diego-based Web-design company that operates the service.

The year-old Web site, which is modeled after a New York City-based program, contains a database of 95,000 U.S. schools and offers teachers the opportunity to register and then post a list of supplies and classroom equipment they can’t afford because of budget constraints. Potential donors who visit the site can search the lists by region, item, school, and even teacher and then make donations accordingly.

Donors and teachers who connect work out the details of the transactions themselves. That approach is unusual, Mr. Hall says, among Web-based nonprofits, which usually try to keep a small portion of each transaction to support their sites.

"We’re not asking people for money," he said. "We’re asking people to give to schools."

Some 4,000 teachers from 49 states have registered and posted requests, which range from simple items, such as naptime pillows and baby wipes, to computers. There are no limits on what a teacher may request, but the service does require address verification to ensure that only real schools are requesting donations.

Click here to read I Love Schools, Inc. press releases.