California · Nonprofit
READ FOR LIFE
READ FOR LIFE (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $303,334 to it, the largest being THE BELAY FOUNDATION ($191,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $74k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $303k
- Net assets
- $243k
What Read for Life does
Mission
To provide books and programs that encourage parents to build the foundation for reading, beginning at birth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
"books for kids" distributes book packets to parents of young children encouraging reading at an early age & supplying samples of appropriate books. The program provides approximately 7,000 - 8,000 gently used books and serves approximately 600 children annually.
$40,854 spent59% of program spending"books for babies" distributes book packets to parents of newborn babies encouraging reading at an early age & supplying samples of appropriate books. The program provides new books and serves approximately 600 children annually.
$5,929 spent9% of program spending"home base migrant pre-school" provides new books and parent/teacher training to about 1,000 children in several migrant educational pre-school programs throughout tulare county.
$4,985 spent7% of program spendingHeadstart program, shelter buddies and other programs to further reading in the community
$17,982 spent26% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $69,750.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2020 to 2021, from $215k to $264k (+23%).
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: 2019 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of READ FOR LIFE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $31k → $41k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 READ FOR LIFE’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
READ FOR LIFE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 60% · 2019 68% · 2020 72% · 2021 74% · 2022 100% · 2023 99% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
Where its funders are
READ FOR LIFE draws 73% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $40k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
READ FOR LIFE has grown faster than half of the 663 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 663 unclassified nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like READ FOR LIFE
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for READ FOR LIFE: 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 READ FOR LIFE?
- READ FOR LIFE (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $303,334 to it, the largest being THE BELAY FOUNDATION ($191,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does READ FOR LIFE have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $303,334 in grants to READ FOR LIFE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of READ FOR LIFE?
- THE BELAY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $191,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like READ FOR LIFE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Read for Life →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 6 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