California · Nonprofit
ROOM TO READ
ROOM TO READ (California) receives grants from 321 organizations whose IRS filings report $121,788,516 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($25,438,880). 177 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $74M
- Funders on record
- 321
- Grants received
- $122M
- Net assets
- $81M
What Room to Read does
Mission
Room to Read envisions a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality, where all children have Room to Read, learn and grow.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Room to Read's literacy program portfolio supports children in developing literacy skills and a love of reading by training and coaching educators, creating quality curriculum and children's book content in local languages, and enriching learning spaces that enable children to become independent readers. To date, Room to Read has benefited 54.99 mm children benefited through its literacy portfolio.
$44,342,829 spentof which $1,745,682 as grants$19,813 earned by the program80% of program spendingRoom to Read's gender equality program portfolio supports all adolescents, particularly girls, to develop life skills that promote gender equality with curriculum that focuses on collaboration, resilience, leadership, decision-making and critical thinking.to date, Room to Read has benefited 4.31 mm children benefited through its gender equality portfolio. (continued on schedule o)
$11,353,982 spentof which $223,581 as grants20% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $55,696,811.
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 $51M to $80M (+56%).
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: 2017 2% · 2018 6% · 2019 4% · 2020 4% · 2021 3% · 2022 6% · 2023 4% · 2024 7% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of ROOM TO READ’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Geetha Murali
CEO / director
Board chair
John Lindfors
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 88 funders to 115 funders, grant income rose $5.7M → $17M.
57 of 321 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 60% 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 ROOM TO READ’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 321 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
ROOM TO READ has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
62% 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 ROOM TO READ.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 23% · 2019 31% · 2020 20% · 2021 72% · 2022 15% · 2023 26% — 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
40% of ROOM TO READ's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
60% of ROOM TO READ's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $49M that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from funders outside California, across 34 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $73M arriving through sponsors registered in 24 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
ROOM TO READ runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding ROOM TO READ receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- Agency for International Development$20k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like ROOM TO READ
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.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 35 states
Part of a family of 13 related entities
- Room to Read Japan · exempt
- Room to Read Singapore · exempt
- Room to Read Switzerland · exempt
- Room to Read United Kingdom · exempt
- Room to Read Hong Kong · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ROOM TO READ: 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 ROOM TO READ?
- ROOM TO READ (California) receives grants from 321 organizations whose IRS filings report $121,788,516 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($25,438,880). 177 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ROOM TO READ have?
- IRS filings report 321 organizations giving $121,788,516 in grants to ROOM TO READ, 177 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ROOM TO READ?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $25,438,880 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ROOM TO READ 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 Room to Read →
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 321 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing