WakeEd Partnership launched Tools4Schools in 2022 to address a clear and growing need: teachers in North Carolina—and especially in Wake County—were spending more than $1,000 of their own money each year just to supply their classrooms. 

Tools4Schools was created as a direct, community-driven solution—a free “store” where Wake County Public School teachers can access essential supplies at no cost, ensuring students have what they need to focus on learning while reducing the financial burden on educators.

Today, Tools4Schools has served nearly 17,000 educators in North Carolina’s largest school district through a donation-powered supply model, where teachers “shop” using allocated points for new and some gently used materials.

Since opening, the program has distributed more than $2 million in new school supplies and has reached thousands of teachers each year in every school in Wake County Public Schools, becoming a central hub for year-round community support—from supply drives and corporate donations to Amazon wish lists. What began as a response to an immediate need has evolved into a high-impact, scalable program that mobilizes businesses and the broader community to directly support classrooms across Wake County.