Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, Room to Read (RtR) is creating a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality. It is achieving this goal by providing support during the two most critical time periods in a child’s education — primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. Since its founding, RtR has helped more than 23.8 million children in 20 countries around the world unlock their full potential through education, training, and coaching for teachers, creating quality books and curricular materials, and has established libraries filled with diverse children’s books in local languages that can be enjoyed at school or home.

To date, Room to Read has reached 23 million children in over 40,700 communities across Bangladesh, Cambodia, Grenada, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, United States, Vietnam, and Zambia, and plans to benefit 40 million children by 2025.