DonorsChoose.org (http://donorschoose.org) helps teachers get the stuff they need via a kind of microfinance model, helping fund a lot of schools in the US. (I've been focusing on a low-income school in South Carolina.)Charles Best, their founder, talks a bit about this in the following, preceded by good work related to "Waiting for Superman".More... (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark/donorschoose-gets-big-con_b_798474.html)
Donorschoose gets big contribution from American Express (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark/donorschoose-gets-big-con_b_798474.html)