Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Disadvantaged Kids Fall Further Behind Every Summer Kindergarten through fifth grade is a critical time in a child's education. Over 75% of disadvantaged children are not proficient in reading when they start fourth grade, and most will never catch up. The summer reading slide drags down kids in reading skills every summer, leaving a lasting impact on their educational future. The summer reading slide is responsible for 65% of the learning gap between rich and poor. Poor, minority, male students a year or more behind have a higher likelihood of dropping out or serving jail time than graduating. Although three-quarters of new jobs require post-secondary education, in most cities only one-quarter of adults qualify. Economic prosperity requires that we teach our children to read and reverse the summer slide.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Kids Read Now
Enrolled students leaving PreK-5 receive up to nine FREE books over the summer. They also receive weekly parent engagement reminders to encourage them to keep reading and report on the books they've already read. This award-winning program is available for year round in-home supplemental reading.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Library of Congress Literacy Award Winner - Successful Practices Honoree 2022
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of students who demonstrate improved overall literacy
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Kids Read Now
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We measure reading gain over the summer using our program. Studies show students who use the full program (8 books) show 2.5 months reading gain vs. those who do not.
Number of books distributed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Kids Read Now
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are on track to enroll 100,000+ students across 35+ states, which we will ship 840k books summer 2023, hitting a milestone of delivering 3 million books.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Eliminate the summer reading slide for PreK-5 students.
To help kids "Learn to Read so that they can Read to Learn".
Increase PreK-5 literacy for our partner schools.
Provide low-income children free books to help promote reading.
Connect with parents to encourage their child to read more, and to encourage the parents to read with their children.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Kids Read Now offers a PreK-5 Summer Reading Program to eliminate learning loss over the summer months. KRN will partner with schools and districts to enroll their PreK-5 student population for the our summer home book delivery program. Enrollment is between the months of early September through early May. Once a student is enrolled in the program, we will send a link to allow them to self-select their choice of eight books they find interesting and want to read. If a student picks their own book to read, they are 88% more likely to finish that book that they picked. Once the student has all eight books selected, they wait until the start of the program in late May/early June. We will mail each book directly home to the student, one at a time, all summer long. Inside each book is a Discovery Sheet that has four questions/activities for the child. Each question is age and grade level appropriate. This allows the child and an adult to discuss the book and to check comprehension and critical thinking development. During the summer, weekly outreach messages are sent to each student through the contact method of choice. (phone, text, email, or push notification) The messages ask them to report the book If the children complete all 9 books they are awarded a certificate and a large prize at the end of summer. The final part of the program is the efficacy component. How this is measured is through the analysis of a pre-test, KRN programming, and post-test data through an independent and reputable organization.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Since 2012, we have grown from 2,000 students to 123,000 in 2023, and anticipate we will serve 155,000 students during the summer of 2024. Our headquarters and Fulfillment Center are located in Troy, Ohio, but we reach kids across the United States. In 2023, we served over 123,000 children in 925 schools and 230 school districts in 24 states. With the upgrades of our database, new training videos, new reading tips videos, new parent guides and improved warehouse and shipping capabilities, we have the scalable capacity for 250,000+ students.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
KRN has grown from 3,000 students in 2015 to 123,000 students in 2023, with districts ranging from Alaska to New York. We expect to reach 155,000 students served for the summer of 2024 and 175,000 for summer 2025.
Conservatively, we expect compounded annual growth to be 30% over the next five years.
We hope to serve 2 million students each summer within 10 years.
- Students who completed the full KRN summer reading program (9 books) gained 2.5 months of reading skills compared to their non-KRN peers.
- Students who completed the base KRN summer reading program (4 books) gained 1.7 months of reading skills compared to their non-KRN peers.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
KIDS READ NOW
Board of directorsas of 02/23/2024
Mr. Leib Lurie
Kids Read Now
Paul von Hippel
University of Texas - Austin
Josh Walsh
Walsh LLC
Jonathan Trunk
Brixey & Meyers
Todd Imwalle
Geehan Group
Barb Lurie
Ret. Elementary Educator
Glen Keifer
OSU
Amanda Close
Penguin Random House
Chandra Youngblood
Battle Creek Schools MI.
Dr. Kamisha Childs
Texas A&M
Todd Jolly
Ed-Tech Executive
Bob Iskander
Global Grid for Learning
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/20/2024GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.