Who Are We
Our Town Library is a non-profit, student-led organization aiming to provide English education to everyone, online and offline.
OTL adopts Non Profit Organization’s principles while applying business strategies. We charge a small fee—far below market rates—to keep our doors open. 100% of our profits go to donations to charities or reinvestments in the library.
By operating like a business, we stay innovative. Families choose us not only because we are cost-effective, but also because we provide high quality learning environments. We compete to improve.
Our mission is simple: To serve our community with our English skills and passion and to help those from far with our community’s wealth.
We are a Non-Profit
organization initiated and run
by High-School Students
Our Story So Far...
Two years ago, we were just a group of students on a street corner, watching our flyers land in trash cans. We had no books, no reputation—just an idea. But seven families took a chance on us. Today, Our Town Library isn’t just an idea. It’s a thriving community.
Dozens of volunteers joined in, hundreds of students came through our doors, and our collection of children’s books grew to over four thousand volumes. Our Town’s reputation flourished, with over 90% of students finding us through word of mouth. These students come from kindergarten, primary, and even secondary school.
During the weekdays, our physical library in Beijing is a welcoming place open to everyone for reading and borrowing books; in the weekends, it is where children in the local community attend the activities and immerse in an English environment to improve their English literacy.
Now we receive children and volunteers from around the world in online activities and host summer camps where children learn through multiple activities. In 2023, we had 29 participants; in 2024, we had 74.
Our Town Library Team
A sustainable and efficient platform
FOR HIGH SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS
OTL is a scalable and financially sustainable platform to gain service experiences in the real world.
FOR OUR COMMUNITIES
OTL is a non-profit platform to access English Learning lead by Native Volunteers by paying a far-below-market membership fee.
FOR THOSE IN NEED
OTL is a non-profit organization that helps by donating our profits, sending our Volunteers and organizing activities such as Book Donations, Promotions, etc.
Why do we charge small fees?
We hope to have a real impact on society through long-term and down-to-earth work.
The families in China who really need English but cannot access the quality resources are the local well-to-do families. What concerns them is the language learning environment, not whether if it is free.
Meanwhile, most of the English volunteering activities for High School students are dedicated to children living in rural areas. But English is not the priority for them, not as important as financial or material assistance.
Charging far-below-market fees allows us to break even and financially support the children in need. It also let us enter the market competition, continuously improve our products and gain market recognition.
Thanks to our unique charity model, our community has access to highly rated English activities for a small fee, the volunteers can gain real service and business experience, and our profits can be donated to children in need.
