Your generosity becomes the words that girls will use to express themselves and build lives of their own choosing. Your compassion becomes the stories that young learners will hold in their hearts and share with their own children. Most importantly, your thoughtfulness becomes a better life for every student, family, and community that we reach, both now and for years to come. Your support is their success. Their triumph is your legacy. When you include a gift for Room to Read in your will…
Legacy Giving
Stories from our Legacy Community
"If you are looking for a way to have a profound, positive impact on global education, that costs you nothing now, I highly recommend including Room to Read in your will. It is the most impactful way to invest in a brighter future for all and with Room to Read offering supporters a free tool to create or update their will, I found it to be very rewarding and surprisingly easy."
- Craig Herb, Room to Read supporter since 2007
Need Assistance? Just ask.
Establishing Your Legacy is Easy
With charitable gift planning, you can create a legacy gift that will extend your support for years to come. It's simple to structure your gift to maximize its benefits in a way that is most favorable to you, your loved ones and the organizations you choose.
For assistance please contact Caitlin Nagel, our Legacy Giving Manager, at legacy@roomtoread.org or follow the steps below.
Step-by-Step Guide to Legacy Giving
Creating a legacy gift allows you to designate your investment to the work you are most passionate about. Most of our supporters choose to invest in our greatest need.
To learn more about your investment options, please e-mail Caitlin Nagel, our Legacy Giving Manager at legacy@roomtoread.org.
If you choose not to designate your investment, it will go towards Room to Read's Future Fund, ensuring your gift is used for maximum possible impact as part of our operational reserves that strengthen our ability to continue our mission in an unpredictable future. The Future Fund enables our organization to be nimble, ensures protection against the unexpected and gives us the financial flexibility to identify, test and invest in new, even more efficient approaches to delivering our programs to the children who need them most.
A bequest, or gift made through your will, is the most common type of legacy gift.
Gifts in Wills – One of the simplest and most effective ways you can ensure that education endures for children experiencing deep educational and economic inequities – not just now, but always – is by including Room to Read in your will or trust.
A gift in your will can be a percentage of your estate or a specific dollar amount and your gift may be in the form of cash, stocks or bonds.
We have partnered with FreeWill to make it easy and accessible to make plans for your will and create a legacy gift. Their free service allows Room to Read supporters who are based in the US to create a will at no cost, plan for their loved ones and establish a legacy of impact in the process. Create your will and legacy gift here for free.
If you are donating outside of the US, please visit our Ways to Give page and select the country you are donating from to find information about Legacy Giving in your country. If you are based in Hong Kong, please visit our partnered platform at Forever Gift to create your will for free.
Suggested language for adding a gift in your will:
“I give, devise and bequeath to Room to Read, a nonprofit corporation, organized and existing under the laws of the State of Washington, with its principal place of business address at Room to Read, 465 California Street, Suite 1000, San Francisco, CA 94104 and tax ID number 91-2003533, [the sum of $_____________] or [_________% of my estate] for its general purposes”
Beneficiary Designations – Your retirement plans, life insurance policies and annuities can all help bring quality educational opportunities to the children who need them most. You can designate Room to Read as the primary beneficiary for a percentage or specified amount of the policy or name us as a contingent beneficiary. If you are donating from the US, click here to plan your beneficiary designations for free.
Consult your financial advisor or, if you are donating from the US, visit our trusted partners at FreeWill to create your legal will for free.
Make sure to tell us that you have included a gift for us in your will!
In honor of your investment in Room to Read’s future, we would love to show our appreciation by recognizing your gift and including you in our exclusive legacy benefits. However, we understand if you prefer to remain anonymous.
Contact Us
To notify us of a gift or ask questions about Legacy Giving, please contact us.
Helen found joy in engaging children in reading and learning, much like Room to Read’s coaches and teachers around the world, and her career as a teacher and librarian allowed her the opportunity to touch the lives of many students. Helen became a fervent supporter of Room to Read later in life when, in 2019, she saw a Christmas ad in Nieman Marcus and reached out to our staff to learn more. Through a series of meaningful letters and phone calls, our team formed a small community for Helen and kept in touch with her through transitions in her life. When Helen passed away in 2021, she left her entire estate to Room to Read. Both Ruth and Helen’s lives revolved around the love of learning and teaching, and their legacies reflect that passion. Through their thoughtfulness and generosity, these two women contributed two of the largest legacy gifts Room to Read has ever received. Ruth and Helen’s thirst for knowledge lives on in the 100,000 students who will now have access to the quality education they deserve. These eager, young learners will acquire the skills they need to reach their full potential and lift their communities in the process. The number of lives that have and will be transformed by Ruth and Helen’s tremendous legacies is truly unquantifiable.
For Dr. Ruth Levitt, learning was an extension of the things that were important to her, including supporting the arts, culture, and the public good. She was a writer, teacher, and scholar, as well as a longtime Room to Read supporter, who donated what she could each month to support educational opportunities for children around the world. She became involved with Room to Read in 2014 and remained a critical friend, lending her keen mind to our strategic plan consultations and diligently reviewing our latest evaluations. A committed academic, Ruth published her last work just months before she passed away and made plans for a legacy gift in support of Room to Read in her final weeks.
