Room to Read, World Change Begins with Educated Children

Financials

Room to Read is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and takes great pride in our financial efficiency, our accountability to donors, and our transparency. We work to use every dollar contributed as efficiently and effectively as possible. In fact, Room to Read has been recognized for its exceptional fiscal responsibility and financial health, and has been awarded the Charity Navigator 4-star rating for seven years in a row—a recognition that less than 2 percent of their rated charities can claim.

Our pledge to our donors is to continue to keep our overhead well below the industry average, to maximize the percentage of your contributions that go towards our programs, and to spend our program dollars wisely so that millions of children may benefit from our work.

We invite you to see what others have to say about us. Below you will find links to independent evaluations of our organization.

2011 Annual Report

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In 2011, Room to Read had an exciting year. We achieved operational launch in our tenth country, Tanzania, distributed our 10 millionth book and were awarded the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy. Last year alone, we established 1,907 libraries, constructed 114 schools, published 154 original local-language books and supported more than 13,000 young women through our Girls’ Education program. To date, Room to Read has now impacted the lives of more than 6.5 million children. You can read just how we did it in our latest annual report or through our annual report microsite.

Highlights of 2011 financials include:

US$41.6 million in donations—a 25 percent increase over the prior year’s total
US$4.6 million in donations in-kind, primarily children’s books donated by publishers
US$22.3 million raised outside the US through foreign fundraising sources—a 27 percent increase over the prior year’s total.
US$37.6 million invested toward our programs—an 18 percent increase over the prior year’s total.
84 percent of total expenses went to program services, meaning that only 16 cents of every dollar went towards fundraising and administration.

Contact Us

If we have not answered your questions here, please visit Frequent Questions-Finance. If you cannot find the answer there or you would like more financial information, please email us at finance@roomtoread.org.