How Books Can Help End the Illiteracy Cycle in Our Country and Open Doors for Children

Nov 16, 2016 2:50 PM ET

America's Charities CSR Blog

Kids across the country are headed back to school, but statistics say that more than 10 million children living in poverty in the U.S. do not have books to call their own. With 8,000 students dropping out of high school every day, the time to end the illiteracy cycle in our country is now, and Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF) is working to do just that.

By providing children in need with access to and choice of high-quality books and enriching literacy resources, RIF empowers young minds to embrace the world of reading and learning. RIF’s signature book program was established 50 years ago, and to date, has distributed over 412 million books and resources to millions of children in the U.S. In RIF’s recent years, we have introduced our Read for Success program to combat the summer slide so that children in low-income communities do not fall behind when school is not in session during the summer.

The most powerful way for individuals or companies to help RIF solve this problem is to share their commitment to reading and literacy.  Books can open new doors for children and set them on path to succeed.

By making a monetary donation, an individual or company can also greatly assist RIF in providing new, high-quality books and literary resources to kids in need. To learn more about RIF's programs and impact, visit www.rif.org

Support This Cause Through Workplace Giving:

Reading Is Fundamental is a member of America's Charities. Your company can support RIF by starting an employee giving program with America's Charities. Our online giving technology and solutions can facilitate your workplace giving campaign and other company cause initiatives. America’s Charities has been mobilizing the workforce to affect social change through employee giving and other company philanthropic initiatives for over 35 years and we have raised more than $650 million of sustainable funds for more than 10,000 nonprofits as a result.