Reading Is Fundamental (RIF)

The inspiration for RIF arose from McNamara’s experiences as a remedial reading teacher in Washington, D.C. One day, a student asked permission to bring a Jules Verne novel home with him. Within months, the boy became one of the most avid readers in the class. Witnessing this dramatic transformation, McNamara grasped that her students might be struggling because they lacked access to reading materials outside of school.

In November 1966, RIF launched pilot programs in three Washington, D.C. elementary schools. With a subsequent USD 150,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, the project expanded rapidly, and by the end of its first full year RIF had distributed more than 200,000 books to 41,000 students in 61 area schools. In 1967 RIF also launched its first bookmobile, delivering books directly to community centers and other neighborhood sites.

A 1971 endorsement from the Advertising Council – a nonprofit that produces public service announcements – gave RIF USD 2,000,000 in free television, radio and print advertisements, further propelling nationwide growth. During this time the organization partnered with Scholastic Magazine, which donated paperbacks to reading initiatives in Harlem and other marginalized communities, while also spearheading distribution programs on Native American reservations and in rural Appalachia. RIF received another infusion of funding in 1976, when Congress voted to allocate matching federal funds for all money raised by local RIF initiatives.

Beginning in the 1990s, private partnerships with UGI Corporation, Nestle and other leading corporations enabled RIF to grow rapidly. In 2001, RIF received USD 18 million from the Coca-Cola Company to launch Classroom Collections, an initiative to deliver 100 quality hardcover books to 10,000 classrooms nationwide. Two years later, the organization joined Macy’s in establishing the Multicultural Literacy Project, a program to expand the project’s outreach to minority groups. Even after RIF lost its long-standing federal grant in 2011, corporate sponsors proved more than capable of filling the funding void.

More than fifty years since its founding, RIF has remained true to its original mission: to instill a life-long love of reading in students across the U.S.. In 2020 the nonprofit launched its Race, Equity and Inclusion Initiative, a program designed to harness the power of literacy in the pursuit of racial justice. Through its unwavering belief in personal empowerment, RIF embodies a philosophy of giving rooted in the innate potential of all readers, regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances.

Contributor: Stephen Meyer