About Us
Our Mission
We partner with local communities throughout the developing world to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries, creating local language children's literature, constructing schools, and providing education to girls. We seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education empowers people to improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries and future generations. Through the opportunities that only education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.
Brief History
John Wood, founder and executive chairman, launched Room to Read after a trek through Nepal where he visited several local schools. He was amazed by the warmth and enthusiasm of the students and teachers, but also saddened by the shocking lack of resources. Driven to help, John quit his senior executive position with Microsoft and built a global team to work with rural villages to build sustainable solutions to their educational challenges.
In founding Room to Read, John wove proven corporate business practices with his inspiring vision to provide educational access and opportunity to 10 million children in the developing world. His novel approach to non-profit management calls for:
- Scalable, measured, sustainable results
- Low-overhead, allowing maximum investment in educational infrastructure
- Challenge grants fostering community ownership and sustainability
- Strong local staff and partnerships creating culturally relevant programs
In 2000, Room to Read began working with rural communities in Nepal to build schools and establish libraries. The organization's geographic reach expanded rapidly as significant needs and opportunities were identified in Vietnam (2001), Cambodia (2002) and India (2003). The Asian Tsunami in 2004 provided a catalyst for entry into Sri Lanka followed shortly by Laos. We expanded to our second continent by launching Room to Read in South Africa in 2006, and then Zambia in 2007. In 2008, we began operations in Bangladesh.
Visit our History page for more information.
Programs
Room to Read has developed a holistic, multi-pronged approach to help children in the developing world gain the lifelong gift of education through four core programs:
- Reading Room — We establish libraries and stock them with local-language children’s books, original Room to Read titles, donated English-language books, games and furniture to create a child-friendly learning environment.
- School Room — We partner with local communities to build schools so children can learn in a safe, child-friendly environment.
- Local Language Publishing — We source new content from local writers and illustrators and publish high-quality children's books in the local language to distribute throughout our networks.
- Girls' Education — We provide long-term, holistic support enabling girls to pursue and complete their secondary education.
To increase the likelihood for success and long-term sustainability, Room to Read enlists community involvement and co-investment through our Challenge Grant model. Villages often raise a significant portion of the overall expenditure in the form of dedicated space, labor, materials and/or small amounts of cash. These challenge grants act as catalysts for community building while also maximizing the local participation and expertise brought to our programs.
We hire local staff, who are personally vested in their nation's educational progress and we empower them to make key programmatic decisions within their country. They are already familiar with the language, conditions, customs and governments and understand the specific needs of the educational system.
Visit our What We Do page for more information.
Awards, Honors and Press
Room to Read has been recognized for its work with distinguished awards, including: The Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and the Sand Hill Group Foundation's Social Entrepreneurship Award. In addition to these organizational awards, Founder and Executive Chairman John Wood has been selected for several honors, including the Draper Richards Foundation Fellowship, the Young Global Leader award from the World Economic Forum, and Time Magazine's Asia's Heroes Award.
Room to Read has been featured in many prestigious newspapers, magazines, websites, and television shows, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, the International Herald Tribune, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Town and Country, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Bloomberg, CNN, and PBS.
Visit our Awards and News & Media pages for more information.
Future Expansion
To respond to the worldwide demand for our programs, Room to Read is committed to expanding within Asia and Africa, as well as to other developing countries.
- Asia — In 2008, Room to Read registered as an NGO in Bangladesh and hired a country director. Beyond Bangladesh, we continue to strategize on how to help more Asian countries and to prioritize when to launch Room to Read in additional countries in the region.
- Africa — In 2009, we are conducting in-depth research on one to two African countries in either the Southern or Eastern Africa regions with a goal to launch programs in one to two additional countries by 2010. Room to Read expanded onto the African continent in 2006 by opening operations in South Africa; we continued to grow our presence in Africa by launching in Zambia in 2007.
- Latin America — We have started to assess the ability to raise funding for potential operations and program launches in Latin America. We have identified four countries for deeper examination, including Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. If this funding research proves successful, we will look to launch operations in one to two countries in Latin America in 2010.