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DonorsChoose selects technology for donor-funded purchases that enhance the education experience for public school students

Horsham, PA — May 5, 2004 — eSchoolMall, the online procurement solutions provider for schools, and DonorsChoose, where classroom funding opportunities and citizen philanthropists meet online, today announced that eSchoolMall technology will power the DonorsChoose purchasing process.

eSchoolMall said it would provide DonorsChoose with access to online catalogs and content, along with appropriate approval and purchase order management, allowing DonorsChoose to fulfill funded purchasing requirements in a Web-based procurement process.

The DonorsChoose model of citizen philanthropy begins with a teacher who wants to provide his or her students with an activity that school funds would not cover. At the DonorsChoose Web site, the teacher can describe a student project and list the materials needed to make it possible. Next, civic-minded individuals can browse teachers' submissions. A donor can make a tax-deductible contribution that fully or partially funds a chosen proposal.

When a proposal is funded, DonorsChoose purchases the materials using eSchoolMall's easyPurchase electronic procurement solution and has them delivered to the teacher's school. Donors receive receipts for the items purchased and feedback from the grateful students, including photographs and thank-you notes. DonorsChoose retains project and accountability data via eSchoolMall's data repository.

"Like schools who seek to operate more efficiently with our e-procurement solutions, DonorsChoose will automate their unique philanthropic purchasing process," said Andy Flanagan, CEO and co-founder of eSchoolMall. "We are extremely pleased to be working with an organization like DonorsChoose."

"DonorsChoose has just begun a national expansion, first in North Carolina and next in Colorado and the Bay Area of California," said Charles Best, founder of the DonorsChoose concept. "The eSchoolMall purchasing solution has made this expansion possible by enabling us to fulfill thousands of classroom needs at minimal cost."