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
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
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 program100% of program spendingFerst 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.
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.
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.
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%).
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.
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).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Against its field
FERST READERS INC's funding base is broadening — from 9 funders to 35 as grant income climbed.
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
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.
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