Learn To Be

History & Overview

Free 1-on-1 online tutoring for kids from under-resourced communities since 2008

Our Mission

We're on a mission to provide exceptional 1-on-1, online tutoring for kids from under-resourced communities, for free.

Learn To Be was a great help for my family. My daughters have improved in school. They are very happy with your help. I'm thankful for the program and how the tutors support my children.

— LTB Parent

Our Impact

0 Students Served

0 Volunteer Tutors

0 Hours of Tutoring

17 Years of Service

100% free for families • EIN: 26-1919770

Our Journey

Winter 2008

We host our first tutoring session: a tutor in New York with a fifth grader in LA.

Fall 2009

One of the first nonprofits to host a PSA on Hulu. Our on-demand tutoring model is born. Watch the original commercial.

Summer 2010

University chapters start popping up around the United States, serving as hubs to recruit tutors.

Sofia — my first and current student — helped me fall in love with teaching and mentorship. Watching her grow as a student and as a young person has been the most incredible experience. At the end of each lesson, I ask if she is proud of herself and the work she did and every day I get an enthusiastic, "Yes!"

— LTB Tutor

Winter 2010

We partner with 22 different after-school programs. Our first business model is born by providing tutoring to schools.

Summer 2013

Biggest redesign of our website. We move away from on-demand tutoring toward long-term connections.

Spring 2015

We move away from school partnerships and focus on partnering with like-minded education nonprofits.

Fall 2017

We introduce our current model: direct services to families. Any family can apply for free tutoring.

2020

COVID-19 response: 80 partnerships established, 4,100 tutors accepted, 19,100 hours delivered, 2,100 students enrolled.

2019

New Hulu commercial airs, bringing Learn To Be to a national audience once again. Watch the 2019 commercial.

2021

Won a $3.2 million grant from The Connor Group. Pilot Pens surprises our founder on camera — watch the video.

2025

15,000+ students served, 12,000+ tutors, 322,000+ hours delivered across 17 years.

Our Community

Learn To Be is an incredible platform that's set up for the success of tutors and tutees! Students get to form bonds with their tutors and receive an educational tool that helps them reach their highest potential. The bonds you form on the platform are incredibly fulfilling.

— LTB Tutor

Who We Serve

Marginalized Youth

Families on food stamps. Students who receive free lunch at school. Students at Title 1 schools. First-generation college students.

Homeless Youth

We partner with School on Wheels and Monarch Schools to provide tutoring for students experiencing homelessness.

Foster Youth

We partner with iFoster, SF Casa, and Down7Up8 to provide free online tutoring to foster youth across the country.

As a registered nurse working during the pandemic, it was very difficult to see my 5th grade son struggle with his reading. Learn To Be connected him with his amazing tutor, who has done a phenomenal job helping him strengthen his weaknesses. He has come such a long way. She is patient, kind, and pushes him to be great. He is comfortable and enjoys his tutoring sessions, which helped him find the confidence he was missing. Thanks LTB, you are truly amazing!!

— Parent & Registered Nurse

Our Tutors

70% High School Students

25% College Students

5% Professionals & Retirees

15+ high school chapters and 7+ college chapters at schools like Northwestern, UNC Chapel Hill, USC, and UCLA serve as a pipeline for tutors every year.

My favorite thing about Learn To Be is helping out my student who's struggling in Math and Reading. She's a 3rd grader, and she really didn't do so well at the beginning, but as I've been working with her, she's improved SO MUCH!! Her dad told me that she recently had a test, and her teacher said she did so well! He was so thankful!

— LTB Tutor

My daughter was struggling in Algebra in High School. As a single parent — her father passed away 5 years ago — life and learning was difficult for her. She is doing better in some areas now, and slowly getting better in others. My daughter hated Math and tutoring. She loves her LTB tutor and looks forward to sessions.

— LTB Parent

One Place for Everything

We've built an entire tutoring ecosystem into our platform.

📋

Onboarding

Tutors and students apply and get onboarded seamlessly

🤝

Self-Matching

Tutors and students find the right match on their own

💻

Online Classroom

Built-in virtual classroom for every session

📅

Scheduling

Integrated scheduling and session management

📊

Data Collection

Post-session surveys track quality and outcomes

🔄

Partner Integration

Partners onboard their own students and tutors

Our Partnerships

Partners Who Send Us Students

The majority of our partners have students but don't have tutors. We provide the tutoring infrastructure they need.

Partners Who Send Us Tutors

High school and college chapters, corporations, and tutoring companies whose tutors want to do philanthropic work.

Partners Who Need a Platform

Some partners have both students and tutors and just need our platform to connect them and manage the relationship.

What People Say

I love Learn To Be because of everything it's taught me. We've accomplished so much, but the best reward is to see the smiles on the faces of kids when they finally understand a concept, and their relief when they realize that they won't have to struggle anymore. LTB is a family.

— LTB Tutor

Dear Mr. Padhit, I am writing to let you know tomorrow will be Avraelee's final tutoring session with you. Due to your amazing work with her she has not only achieved her goal of catching up in the fourth grade, she is also now ahead of her class. She now has an understanding, appreciation, and a passion for math.

— LTB Parent

Why We're Different

Since 2008 — 17 years of learning how to make online tutoring effective
One Place for Everything — Onboarding, matching, classroom, scheduling, and data in one platform
Built to Scale — No manual matching means we can grow without bottlenecks
Partner-Ready — Partners onboard their own students and tutors
100% Free — Always free for families, always will be

Get Involved

Join us in providing exceptional tutoring to kids who need it most

Learn To Be opened so many doors for me! Through every tutoring session, I strived to create a welcoming and enjoyable experience for my students. This helped me develop my social engagement and service skills, which I would later expand in various aspects of my life.

— LTB Tutor

Become a Tutor Support Our Mission

Learn To Be • Founded 2008 • EIN: 26-1919770
learntobe.org