Room to Read Fact Sheet

THE CHALLENGE 758 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD ARE ILLITERATE 2/3 ARE WOMEN AND GIRLS 250 MILLION CHILDREN AREN’T LEARNING IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

OUR RESULTS Room to Read believes that World Change Starts with 12.4M CHILDREN Educated Children.® We envision a world in which all BENEFITTED children can pursue a quality that enables from Room to Read’s programs since 2000. them to reach their full potential and contribute to their community and the world. MORE THAN 22M CHILDREN’S Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in low-income countries by BOOKS DISTRIBUTED focusing on and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local including more than 1,400 communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of original Room to Read titles, reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with and donated English- and the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond. local-language books. MORE THAN 10,000 TEACHERS & OUR PROGRAMS LIBRARIANS TRAINED on average each year in Our Literacy Program enables Our Girls’ Education Program literacy and reading best practices. primary school children to become supports girls to complete secondary independent readers. school with the skills necessary to MORE THAN negotiate key life decisions. Room to Read focuses its efforts on developing 55,000 GIRLS reading skills and the habit of reading in Room to Read focuses on girls transitioning to SUPPORTED primary school aged children because literacy or in secondary school because that is where by Room to Read’s Girls’ is the foundation for all future learning. We the biggest –and most permanent– gaps Education Program and do this primarily by establishing libraries, 95% either remained in the in gender equality in education take place. program or graduated from increasing access to age-appropriate and We do this primarily through supporting secondary school in 2016. culturally relevant reading materials (including girls to attend school, providing female publishing our own original children’s books), mentoring and creating more girl-friendly MORE THAN and improving the child friendliness of school environments. We focus on teaching 4,700 GRADUATES the school environment. We have recently life skills to girls so they will finish school and from secondary school increased our support for reading instruction maximize their opportunities. since the start of the Girls’ including creating materials and providing Education Program training for teachers.

World Change Starts with Educated Children.® | www.roomtoread.org RECOGNITION WHAT DIFFERENTIATES US?

FISCAL EXCELLENCE up. To us this means a child develops both Room to Read has achieved 12 4-star the skills and the habit of reading which ratings from Charity Navigator since we believe together contribute to lifelong 2007, indicating that Room to Read learning. We also concentrate efforts during outperforms most other charities in a girl’s transition into secondary school in America. 6th and 7th grades when she has a high risk LEADER IN LITERACY of dropping out of school because we know Won 2014 Library of Congress Literacy that wages for girls increase by 15–25% Award’s David Rubenstein Prize for our for each additional year a girl remains in outstanding commitment to literacy, secondary school. and the UNESCO 2011 Confucius Prize for Literacy recognizing excellence We use data to evolve and improve our and inspiration in the literacy field. programs each year. Room to Read is committed to measuring our results and SOCIAL INNOVATOR reporting these results to our stakeholders Chosen as Twitter’s first Corporate as we consider transparency central to our Social Innovation partner and won success. This includes developing rigorous the Skoll Foundation’s Award for methods for determining results through Social Entrepreneurship ten times. Room to Read targets two critical regular data collection against key indicators milestones during a child’s school years that HIGH-IMPACT GIVING at more than 3,500 sites annually. can dramatically impact a child’s life and Recognized in Barron’s magazine their future generations. We concentrate on We create long-term systemic change. We hire 25 Best Givers list, 2009, 2010; The literacy learning during 1st and 2nd grades locally and work closely with our government Global Journal’s Top 100 NGOs in the World, 2012, 2013; and Great because we know that once a child reaches partners to scale our programs and ultimately NonprofitsTop Rated list, 2013, 2014. 3rd grade without basic literacy skills, it is impact and benefit more children. extremely difficult for the child to catch

PRESS OUOURR REACHREACH

Room to Read has received significant Room to Read has benefited 12.4 million children in 15 countries. global media coverage, including:

• ABC • BBC • Buzzfeed • CBS • CNN • O U T • Financial Times • The New York Times • S H • Newsweek • Radio National • Vogue • A S I A • The Wall Street Journal • People • Jordan Myanmar R I C F A H E A T A U S PARTNERS O A S I A T S Room to Read is supported by leading Rwanda companies and foundations, including: Indonesia • Artha Capital • Atlassian Foundation • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • Burger King McLamore Foundation • Centre for Micro I B B E A R A N Finance • Citi • Credit Suisse • Echidna Giving C • Goldman Sachs • Happy Hearts Fund • IKEA Room to Read Operations (Active and Inactive) Grenada Foundation • IMC • Tatcha • Townsend Press • Room to Read Accelerator The UBS Optimus Foundation • USAID • Room to Read Operations and Room to Read Accelerator

465 California Street, Suite 1000 • San Francisco, CA, 94104, USA • Voice: +1 415 839 4400 • Fax: +1 415 839 4303 [email protected] • www.roomtoread.org • twitter.com/roomtoread • facebook.com/roomtoread

World Change Starts with Educated Children.®