Good Things Come in Threes

Rutgers.edu | Audible.com | IDT.net  Yes indeed, good things do come in threes. 

Many of you know the story of how the NYDLA.org was basically 'bankrupt' during the last recession. No money. When I took over running the NYDLA in 2009 I had to use my own money to host the NYDLA website. We were struggling to just keep the lights on. It was RUTGERS that became our sponsor in 2012. They saved us - RUTGERS brought money - and their 500K+ living alumni (at the time). Now in 2025 RUTGERS has 600K+ living alumni with 360K+ alumni living in New Jersey (like me). You can find the original RUTGERS sponsorship letter on the 'About' page on NYDLA.org 

And now in 2025 we are servicing 174K+ K-20 *schools across North America. And all 8 Ivy League schools. 

But RUTGERS was the first. 

I have been in the IDT.net building (on the left in the pic above) dozens of times. I remember reading IDT Corp founder Howard Jonas book "On a Roll - From Hot Dog Buns to High Tech Billions" in 1998. 

IDT Corporation (originally standing for International Discount Telecommunications) is a multinational provider of cloud communications, point of sale systems, unified communications, and financial services / foreign exchange services for selected clients. 

Overview

IDT's first service was callback, which was based on the idea that "it costs two and three times as much to call from overseas as it does the other way."

History

IDT was founded by entrepreneur Howard Jonas in August 1990. He founded the company after opening a sales office in Israel, receiving large international phone bills and then discovering a way to lower them by re-originating calls in the United States.

In 1996, IDT founded Net2Phone, the world's fourth-largest VoIP provider (2017), and sold 32% of Net2Phone in August 2000 to AT&T for $1.1 billion in cash. That same year, IDT became a public company via an initial public offering.

Audible (owned by Amazon.com) has been a sponsor of the Distance Learning Association since they moved into Newark, New Jersey. They share the building with RUTGERS School of Business. Audible helps us to convert 'books' into multimedia, transmedia, omnimedia experiences. Think Harry Potter 'living' books. 

And so, within a city block in downtown Newark, New Jersey you will find three of the most valuable partnerships, sponsors and relationships of the (now) GlobalDLA.org 

There are 56M+ people living in the "New York Megalopolis" from Maine to Virginia. NYDLA.org became the NADLA.org servicing all of North America during COVID-19. Other than Zoom, I don't know who could have grown bigger or faster than the Distance Learning Association during a pandemic lock-down. 579M+ people live, learn, work, play, teach, train, coach, mentor from their homes (and their offices, their stores) across North America. 

And now, we are GLOBAL. The GlobalDLA.org 

Dare I say that we are...... on a roll? 

[* and the alumni of the 174K+ K-20 schools]