Posted by Ryan
Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:29:00 GMT
I am excited to announce the launch of Loanables for Teachers! Earlier, I wrote about the problem of teachers being under-funded and having to spend their own money on classroom materials. I've also gotten a strong response from homeschooling parents who often face the same kind of economic crunch. Loanables for Teachers will open up a broad source of loanable teaching aids to our communities of educators.
Now it's your turn - and you can help in 2 ways:
- Help us fill up the inventory of items available on Loanables for Teachers
- Help spread the word by telling your teacher/educator friends about Loanables for Teachers
On the left side of the Loanables for Teachers
search screen, you can see some of the items that are already in demand, including musical instruments, telescopes, art books/slides, and even van de graff generators. Take a look and see how you can help out our students!
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Posted by Ryan
Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:33:00 GMT
I've been loaning out a lot of my own stuff lately through Loanables, and I really enjoy meeting and chatting with the Borrowers. I had a great experience today that I wanted to share.
On Monday, a very nice guy named Chris requested to borrow my ladder. He was putting his house on the market 2 days later and just needed to hang some shutters, so he only needed a ladder for a day. He picked it up yesterday. The price was $8 for the day.
Tonight, he was a couple hours late returning it because his A/C died and he had to deal with that crisis. When he returned the ladder, he shoved an extra $10 into my hand and wouldn't let me give it back, then proceeded to thank me profusely for letting him use the ladder. Wow. Just for grins, I checked the rental prices at a local "Depot" store. $26/day for a comparable ladder. If he had been late returning it there, guess what? They would have charged him another $26. Instead of being forced to pay an extra $26, he gladly gave me an extra $10. That's the difference between borrowing and renting, folks.
Just for being such a great Borrower, I've credited his account with $10 in rental credit. And I was glad to do it.
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Posted by Ryan
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:05:00 GMT
When one of our members posted a
horse a few weeks ago, we got a big chuckle out of it. I mean, I can understand renting out an
air compressor, or a
tile saw, or a
chafing dish. But a horse?? Well I'm happy to announce that this horse has found a borrower! There's a girl out there who has been taking riding lessons for several years and now will have the chance to ride a lot this summer, thanks to the Loanables community. At $75 a month, you can't afford NOT to rent a horse!
It just goes to show how valuable our infrequently-used treasures are to those who need them ... even the ones the need to be fed!
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Posted by Ryan
Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:58:00 GMT
Yesterday we applied to become a
B Corporation. This is a new type of corporate entity whose mission is to create benefit not just for shareholders, but for the community, environment, employees ... the
stakeholders. A traditional Corporation has a legal mandate to maximize shareholder return, which often comes at the expense of these stakeholders. B Corporations are a new community of companies that seek to be good stewards of our natural and human resources, while still providing a return to their shareholders.
We at
Loanables were excited to learn about the B Corporation movement, because it is exactly in line with the company we want to build. We believe that companies have a duty to serve their communities and employees, not just their shareholders. By being explicit about this, B Corporations will attract like-minded shareholders who are willing to allow social & environmental benefit to play into corporate decisions. Thus it becomes not a
conflict of interest, but rather an
expression of interest.
Would you invest in a B Corporation?
Posted in Social responsibility | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Ryan
Fri, 25 May 2007 04:01:00 GMT
A friend of mine whose wife is a teacher shared with me an interesting tidbit of information. School teachers (who are among the most underpaid members of our modern society) often end up spending their own money to buy materials for their classrooms. Perhaps you can give an adequate education using public funding. But I can understand how those who are driven to be great educators would be willing to sacrifice a bit to give their students a superior educational experience.
Let's help them out!
I ran across a great charity called DonorsChoose (http://www.donorschoose.org). It allows teachers to submit project ideas that require funding, and donors can pick out specific projects that they wish to support. Brilliant!
We are also considering adding a special Teachers section to Loanables, whereby teachers can share these materials with each other, track who is borrowing what, manage security deposits for valuable items, etc. Watch this space for more news, and let us know what you think!
Posted in Loanables, Social responsibility | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by Ryan
Fri, 18 May 2007 16:30:00 GMT
We are long overdue for a more interactive way to communicate with our fans! For starters, here is a little more background behind who we are and what we're trying to accomplish. We have a humble goal: to change the world through community bonding.
In the beginning...
Loanables started out as two families living in Austin, TX who realized the untapped power of neighborly connections. More specifically, we observed a couple of trends that we felt needed to be changed:
1) Neighbors tend to be strangers.
We enjoy our neighbors and our neighborhoods, and we welcome the opportunity to meet more of the folks who live in our area. The trend today is towards less neighborly interaction. Many people communicate more with folks halfway around the world than with the families living just a couple of doors away. That seems odd to us.
2) People have a lot of unused stuff.
We realize how much "stuff" the average family accumulates, and more specifically, how much dust this stuff collects from not being used most of the time.
So we said "hey, why not put these together in a way that benefits everyone!" And Loanables was born.
But wait, there's more
The idea quickly expanded. You see, we also believe in charitable giving. The borrowing idea seemed like a perfect way to benefit non-profits, schools, and other groups and individuals who often need to borrow things that they cannot afford to buy or rent from conventional stores. Donating money is great, but why not also donate items you aren't using? Thus we added a new role at Loanables, that of the CCO -- Chief Charitable Officer. We now let Loaners offer up their items to schools & non-profits at no charge, and are always looking for other ways to benefit those in our community who are in need of help. We have a couple of programs in the works, including one to provide baby clothes/items to parents who cannot afford to buy stuff that their children will outgrow every 3 months.
We also realized that the flip side of borrowing is not purchasing. In addition to saving money, our community is helping to save the earth by reducing the consumerism that seems to be rampant these days. We gave our Chief Charitable Officer another hat to wear, that of CEO -- Chief Environmental Officer. (She is now the CCEO, and is always on the lookout for more letters to add to her title.)
Most importantly, what do you think?
We love talking to like-minded folks, in Austin and around the world. Do you like what we're doing? Do you have ideas for how we can do even more with this community? Please share your comments with us!
Posted in Loanables, Austin, TX | 9 comments | no trackbacks
