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, providing education to girls and establishing computer labs. 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 CEO, launched Room to Read after a trek through Nepal. He visited several local schools and 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.
Founding Room to Read, John wove proven corporate business practices with his inspiring vision to provide educational access to 10 million children in the developing world. His novel approach to non-profit management called 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
Room to Read began working with rural communities in Nepal in 2000 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 December 2004 provided a catalyst for entry into Sri Lanka followed shortly by Laos. In 2006, we expanded to our second continent by launching Room to Read in South Africa, and we began work in Zambia in 2007.
Programs
Room to Read has developed a holistic, multi-pronged approach to help children in the developing world gain the lifelong gift of education. The approach includes the following programs:
- School Room — We partner with villages to build schools.
- Reading Room — We establish bi-lingual libraries and fill them with donated English books and local language books purchased in-country or self-published, creating a colorful space with posters, games, furniture, and flooring.
- Local Language Publishing — We source new content from local writers and illustrators and publish high-quality local language children's books to distribute throughout our networks.
- Computer Room — We establish labs to provide students with vocational skills and employment access.
- Room to Grow Girls' Scholarship — We fund long-term girls' scholarships for young girls who would otherwise not have access to an 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 and work to ensure that we craft new solutions to existing problems.
Results to Date
Since our inception in 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 1.7 million children by:
- Constructing 442 schools
- Establishing over 5,160 libraries
- Publishing 226 new local language children's titles representing over 2 million books
- Donating over 2.2 million English language children's books
- Funding 4,036 long-term girls' scholarships
- Establishing 155 computer and language labs
Awards, Honors and Press
Over the past few years, Room to Read has received several 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 CEO 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.
Please visit our Awards and Media & Press pages for more details and links to these pieces.
Future Expansion
There are more than 770 million illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds of whom are women and girls. In addition, there are over 100 million children not currently enrolled in primary school and millions of others not currently in secondary school. The need for Room to Read's educational programs spans the globe. To respond to this worldwide demand for our programs, Room to Read is committed to expanding geographically. Our expansion plans include:
- Africa — In 2006, Room to Read launched onto the continent of Africa by opening operations in South Africa and we continued our expansion in 2007 by starting work in Zambia. We are conducting a research study on the 54 countries of the African continent to help prioritize future regions and countries for expansion in Africa.
- Continued Expansion within Asia — Room to Read will continue to expand operations in Asia. In late 2007 we began setting up our operations in Bangladesh, our seventh Asian country. In addition to launching in Bangladesh, we began a feasibility study on China in late 2007. To be completed in 2008, the study will determine whether China could be a good fit for our programs or whether Room to Read should consider other countries for possible Asia expansion in 2009 or 2010.
