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Georgia · Nonprofit

FERST READERS INC

FERST READERS INC (Georgia) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,368,632 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN DALLAS INC ($2,858,823). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.2M
Funders on record
93
Grants received
$6.4M
Net assets
$1.7M
55/93 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 44%
01What it does

What Ferst Readers Inc does

Mission

Ferst readers provides books for local communities to prepare preschool children for reading and learning success. Providing literacy resources for children, birth to five, and families, ferst readers strives to improve school readiness and early learning outcomes.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Children, birth to five, who participate in the ferst readers program receive a free, age-appropriate book every month in the mail along with literacy support resources for parents that help create a language-rich environment in the home. The ferst readers program increases children's access to print and early language experiences so that they have the best chance of entering school with the skills necessary to succeed. Community action teams, comprised of dedicated volunteers, implement the program at the local level by raising funds, registering children and partnering with other organizations to raise awareness around the early literacy issue. Partner action teams are direct funders who choose to support a specific group of children for program enrollment.

    $2,245,036 spent$2,570,243 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. Ferst readers administers the georgia rural libraries initiative which provides multi-year grants to two county libraries in rural communities in georgia. These grants serve to enhance the availability of early childhood learning resources in rural communities primarily through existing public libraries. Ferst readers serves as fiscal agent for grants provided through the greater atlanta community foundation from an anonymous donor.

  3. Ferst readers serves as the fiscal agent for toombs county family connection/get toombs county reading campaign, a local collaboration that supports the statewide "get georgia reading" campaign, through grants from the literacy for all fund. The gtcrc provides a variety of literacy-related services to children and adults in toombs county including the ferst readers program.

The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,245,036.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($2.0M) Expenses 100 ($1.6M) Net assets 100 ($1.9M)2019 Revenue 92 ($1.9M) Expenses 114 ($1.8M) Net assets 102 ($1.9M)2020 Revenue 94 ($1.9M) Expenses 120 ($2.0M) Net assets 100 ($1.9M)2021 Revenue 116 ($2.4M) Expenses 123 ($2.0M) Net assets 121 ($2.3M)2022 Revenue 91 ($1.8M) Expenses 147 ($2.4M) Net assets 83 ($1.6M)2023 Revenue 134 ($2.7M) Expenses 152 ($2.5M) Net assets 103 ($2.0M)2024 Revenue 107 ($2.2M) Expenses 152 ($2.5M) Net assets 91 ($1.7M)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (107)Expenses (152)Net assets (91)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $2.4M to $1.6M (−34%).

$2.0M
$2.0M
$1.9M
$2.4M
$1.6M
$2.1M
$1.9M
2018201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 4% · 2023 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

93% of FERST READERS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,793 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$415k
’18
$33k
’19
−$27k
’20
$370k
’21
−$544k
’22
$251k
’23
−$282k
’24
2.0
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

Davida Morgan-Washington

President / CEO

Board chair

Chaundra Luckett

Board chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed24232321261821
Joined·+3+3+0+8+0+6
No longer listed·432383
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 35 funders, grant income rose $346k → $1.0M.

19 of 93 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of FERST READERS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 93 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

FERST READERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

87% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FERST READERS INC.

45%
largest funder
64%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 46% · 2019 50% · 2020 51% · 2021 44% · 2022 33% · 2023 51% — diversifying over time.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

45% of FERST READERS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

FERST READERS INC draws 77% of its grant income from funders outside Georgia, across 23 states in all.

ME
MT
IL
NY
MA
OR
PA
RI
CA
UT
MO
VA
MD
DE
TN
NC
SC
DC
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Georgia out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FERST READERS INC's funding base is broadening — from 9 funders to 35 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−13% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve2.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like FERST READERS INC

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Georgia

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

91% of spending goes to programs.

Program 91%Management 6%Fundraising 3%

Governance

20
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 11 states

MT
IL
IA
VA
NC
SC
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FERST READERS INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds FERST READERS INC?
FERST READERS INC (Georgia) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,368,632 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN DALLAS INC ($2,858,823). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FERST READERS INC have?
IRS filings report 93 organizations giving $6,368,632 in grants to FERST READERS INC, 55 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FERST READERS INC?
UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN DALLAS INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,858,823 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FERST READERS INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Georgia. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

Play a game about who funds Ferst Readers →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 93 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing