The most useful way to support girls' education is to back the support that helps a girl continue her education through adolescence, the years when most girls who leave school do so. In practice that means supporting programs that combine life skills and community mentorship over several years, choosing an organization that can show measured results, and giving in whatever form fits your circumstances, from a single donation to a legacy gift. Room to Read is a nonprofit organization that has worked on children's literacy and girls' education since 2000 and has benefited more than 60 million children across 29 geographies, and the guidance below draws on what our own program data show about where support does the most good. Girls' education has improved worldwide, yet according to UNESCO, 122 million girls are still out of school, and most of them leave at the transition to secondary school. That timing decides how far support goes, because money and effort aimed at the point where girls leave school will help far more of them continue than the same amount spread thinly across every age. This guide sets out the most effective ways to support girls' education, why support matters most in the secondary years, how to judge a girls' education charity worth backing, and how to give through our work. The most effective forms of support share one feature, which is that they fund skills and mentorship sustained across the years in which a girl and her family decide whether her education continues. A useful way to think about your options is by how directly each one reaches that combination. A recurring or one-time donation to a program that pairs life skills with community mentorship reaches the part of the problem that decides whether a girl stays in school. According to the World Bank, an extra year of schooling raises a girl's later earnings by about 20 percent, so support that adds years of schooling compounds well beyond the gift itself. When you give, favor organizations that fund the complete model, because the evidence supports the combination of its parts. Some people prefer to support a concrete need, such as learning materials, mentor training or the costs that stop a girl attending a distant secondary school, while others prefer to give in a way that continues over time. A donor-advised fund lets you recommend grants to girls' education over several years, and a legacy gift arranged through your will or estate plan supports the work beyond your lifetime. A company can support girls' education at larger scale through a corporate partnership. Support can also take the form of time and attention. Sharing accurate information about what helps girls continue their education, and following the evidence as it develops, helps shift the wider conversation toward approaches that work. The research on girls' education keeps growing, and an informed supporter makes better decisions about where to give. Support pays off most in the secondary years because that is when most girls who leave school do so. Enrollment for girls is now close to universal at primary level in much of the world, so the youngest children are largely in school. According to the Global Education Monitoring Report, only 66 girls complete upper secondary school for every 100 boys in historically low-income countries, and UNICEF finds that while 49 percent of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education, only 24 percent have at upper-secondary level. That widening gap is why timing matters more than amount. A girl who reaches secondary school has already cleared the barriers that stop the youngest children, and now meets a different set, from the pressure to marry to the cost and distance of a secondary school, that gather in adolescence. We concentrate our girls' education work on this transition because the barriers that end a girl's education gather in these years, and our mentors are trained to recognize the early signs that a girl may leave, such as repeated absences. The fuller picture of where and why girls leave school sits in our overview of girls' education. Organizations that work on girls' education differ widely in how they work and how well they can prove it, so a few checks separate the ones worth supporting from the ones that only sound convincing. You can apply the same four questions to any girls' education charity, Room to Read included. What to check Why it matters An independent rating, such as a Charity Navigator score Signals financial health and accountability The real cost of an outcome, reported openly Shows what each dollar achieves Whether local staff lead the work Programs run by people from the same communities tend to hold up better Whether results are published against a comparison group A figure means little without something to compare it against Room to Read meets those checks in ways a supporter can verify. Our work has earned 20 four-star ratings from Charity Navigator and a place in HundrED's Hall of Fame, chosen from 3,500 organizations by a jury of 194 experts. Local nationals lead our community-based operations in every country where we work, and our Literacy Program results are measured against comparison schools, where children in our programs read up to 2.5 times as fast as their peers. Room to Read has worked on children's literacy and girls' education since 2000, on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®. Our gender equality programming has benefited more than 4.5 million adolescents across 14 geographies, from Nepal and India to Tanzania and Zambia, and by the end of 2025 we had invested more than US$1 billion in foundational learning. Nearly 90 percent of our team is based in the countries where we work, so programs are designed and run by people from the communities they serve. Because that local leadership is built into the model, support for our work reaches girls through mentors and educators from their own communities. Our Girls' Education Program is built first around five life skills: collaboration, resilience, leadership, decision-making and critical thinking, taught through a life skills curriculum. Alongside the curriculum, a mentor from the same community meets each girl regularly, works with her family and steps in early when she is at risk of leaving. The design addresses each of the barriers girls face in the secondary years, and it adapts across very different settings, including the detailed picture of girls' education in India. Across our Girls' Education Program, over 99 percent of enrolled girls advance to the next grade, and more than 80 percent of the program's graduates secure work or enroll in tertiary education within five years of graduation. A gift to this work funds more than a single program. It invests in the systems, partnerships and infrastructure that let what works reach girls at scale. You can support girls' education with Room to Read in the form that fits your circumstances, from a single donation to a recurring gift, a donor-advised fund recommendation or a legacy gift arranged through your estate plan. Each one supports the same combination of life skills and community mentorship that helps a girl continue her education through the years when most girls leave school. To support girls' education and receive our program results and new research as they are published, sign up below or choose the way of giving that suits you best.Give to programs that combine life skills and mentorship
Fund a specific need, or give in a way that lasts
Advocate and stay informed
Why does support matter most at secondary school?
Why timing matters more than amount
How do you choose a girls' education charity worth supporting?
What Room to Read is
How Room to Read addresses girls' education
How to support girls' education
