Everybody Wins! Iowa
Everybody Wins when you read with a child
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Everybody Wins! Iowa is a reading and mentoring non- profit that was created to help address the issue of illiteracy that exists in our society today. We achieve our mission by inviting volunteer reading mentors from the community into schools for reading experiences and interaction with elementary-age students, providing resources, including free books, to local children, and advocating the importance of reading aloud to children. Within Iowa, one in four students is not reading proficiently at grade level by the end of 4th grade, we are working to change that. We understand that literacy skills are a critical foundation for every child for them to be successful later in school and in life. We achieve our mission by matching students with volunteer reading mentors who come in once a week to read, talk, and build relationships with each other in a low-pressure environment.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Power Read Programs
The Power Read program is the primary program of Everybody Wins! Iowa and serves students in 30 schools and community organizations in Central Iowa. The program matches approximately 500 elementary school students one-to-one with community volunteers to serve as their reading mentors during the school year. The main population of students being served are students from families that are free - and reduced-price-lunch eligible and minority students. Through this program, volunteer reading mentors visit their student for about an hour every week. Volunteers talk with the students, read aloud to students, have students read aloud to them, and instill positive attitudes about reading. The volunteers serve as role models, enhancing students' self-esteem and encouraging their success through these consistent, weekly, positive interactions. The program's simple equation - one mentor, one child, one book at a time - produces powerful results. "Everybody Wins! when you read with a child!"
Where we work
Awards
Impact Maker Award for Advocacy 2018
United Way of Central Iowa
Affiliations & memberships
The Library of Congress State Literacy Award 2019
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Power Read Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Students enrolled in Power Read and matched with a volunteer reading mentor
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Power Read Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Volunteer reading mentors and other program volunteers.
Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children, At-risk youth, Low-income people
Related Program
Power Read Programs
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of volunteer hours provided to Everybody Wins! Iowa
Percent of students who read outside of required class time
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Power Read Programs
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Percent of students reporting they read outside of required class (school).
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?
Reading is the foundation of all academic subjects, so having the resources, motivation, and practice reading outside of school is invaluable to the student. By providing students with these read-aloud experiences, students will increase their enthusiasm and engagement in reading, and be better prepared to get the most out of their classroom learning experiences.
Reading aloud has also proven to be impactful in a child’s social and emotional development. Through consistent reading and relationship building with a mentor, the student is given the opportunity to practice their communication skills, build their confidence, and develop empathy and emotional intelligence which will help prepare students to face challenges and be successful in life.
The main goals of Power Read are to better prepare students for learning in the classroom and increase their Social & Emotional Learning. (See figure above) Within the objectives, there are seven outcomes that EWI will use data collection instruments to measure:
1. Enthusiasm: Students develop a positive attitude towards reading.
2. Engagement: Students increase their engagement in school and reading experiences.
3. Resources: Students have resources to read outside the classroom.
4. Confidence: Students increase their self-esteem and confidence in reading and other areas of life.
5. Relationship skills: Students increase their relationship skills and build a positive relationship with their mentor.
6. Communication skills: Students increase their communication skills and ability to articulate ideas.
7. Behavior: Students improve their behavior in and outside of school.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The primary objective of the program is to increase children's success in school by improving literacy and fostering a love of reading by pairing caring volunteer reading mentors one-to-one with a student for one hour each week. During this time, volunteers read aloud to students,and have students practice reading aloud to them.
The program focuses on improving the reading skills of children who read below grade level, are learning English as a second language, or display a need for mentoring for any reason--with a large portion of these children coming from minority and/or low-income households. The second objective of programming is to improve children's self-esteem through one-on-one interactions with volunteer reading mentors. Our programs complement the education the students are already receiving by giving them an opportunity to practice and improve their reading while receiving positive feedback and encouragement. The confidence children in our program gain is important in developing both their success in the classroom and a lifelong love of reading.
The third major objective is to continue to increase the number of volunteer mentors in the program. Because our programming is based on one-on-one interactions, recruiting more volunteers means that we are able to work with more children while expanding awareness of the literacy issues many of the children in our communities face.
The philosophy of Everybody Wins! Iowa is based upon the power of one - one mentor, one child, one book at a time - as a way to cultivate both academic success and the love for reading.
Our Program outcome goals set for FY22:
80% of program students increased their engagement in the classroom/school (teacher survey)
85% of students improved their enthusiasm for books and reading according to their teachers (teacher survey)
95% of student survey respondents reported that they enjoyed coming to Power Read
85% of student survey respondents are reading outside of the classroom
90% Mentor engagement (based on mentor survey and program attendance)
5% increase in the diversity of program volunteers (volunteer data)
Three methods measure outcomes: Program Reports, Program Surveys, and the collection of success stories.
The Program Outputs Reports collect data on outputs such as the amount of time spent reading in the program, student and mentor attendance rates, and the number of books distributed.
Program surveys are distributed to program students, their teachers, parents, and mentors, to collect data on program results. Student surveys are completed once at the beginning of the program year and again at the end of the school year to assess the effectiveness of our program on increasing the students’ enthusiasm for reading. The teacher, parent, and mentor surveys are completed at the end of the program to assess changes in the students’ engagement, enthusiasm, and social and emotional development.
Success stories show tangible results and real impact.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Everybody Wins! program was founded in New York by Arthur Tannenbaum and his wife Phyllis. They had always read aloud to their children and reading aloud together was an important time for them to come together after a long day. It helped the Tannenbaums to instill a lifelong love of reading in their children. Arthur picked up a copy of the Read-Aloud Handbook, written by Jim Trelease after reading a book review in the New York Times. Arthur appreciated how important the read-aloud experience was for children, and realized that there were many children who didn't have that opportunity to read with an adult in their daily lives.
Trelease wrote that reading aloud to children was the single most important factor in improving children's literacy skills--but what happens to those children who never had that opportunity? Arthur saw a chance to make a difference by visiting a neighborhood school once a week during his lunchtime and read to a child. He quickly recruited co-workers to join him in his weekly “Power Lunch." Soon, the volunteers' impact became obvious. Children in the program were learning to love reading, they were gaining self-confidence, and they were becoming better readers. This simple program has an enormously powerful impact! Soon Arthur retired from his job and founded Everybody Wins! as a nonprofit in New York.
This program quickly spread, and was brought to Iowa in 2002 after Senator Tom Harkin participated in an Everybody Wins! DC program and knew it could benefit children in Iowa.
During its first year, Everybody Wins! Iowa served 15 children in three Des Moines schools (Capitol View, Monroe, and Windsor). We will be entering our 20th year in FY23. Everybody Wins! Iowa serves 500 children during the school year in 30 schools (located in Des Moines, Ankeny, Indianola, Norwalk, Perry, and West Des Moines). The organization operates under the leadership of an 15-member volunteer board of directors from the community, one full-time Executive Director, two part-time Program Managers, one full-time Volunteer Manager, one Marketing/Development Coordinator, one AmeriCorps member through ICAP, and approximately 13 part-time site coordinators, numerous interns, students from local colleges and universities completing service hours, and approximately 600 community volunteers.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the past 20 years, Everybody Wins! Iowa as a literacy and mentoring organization has served over 5,000 students and distributed more than 50,000 new books to those students, and provided meaningful volunteer opportunities for thousands of community members in four counties, across 8 cities in Central Iowa.
Our results from FY21:
35 Program Schools/Sites
535 Number of students served
375 Number of volunteer mentors
404 Total Number of Everybody Wins! Iowa volunteers
4,089 Number of books gifted by Everybody Wins! Iowa to students
3,359 Number of hours donated by Everybody Wins! Iowa volunteers
810 Number of books read to students through our reading programs
22,528 Number of pages read to students through our reading programs
Program outcomes from FY21:
81% of student survey respondents increased their enthusiasm for books and reading
96% of student survey respondents reported that they enjoyed coming to Power Read
84% of student survey respondents are reading outside of the classroom
*In 2019, Everybody Wins! Iowa was awarded the 2019 Library of Congress State Literacy Award. This award is one of nine state awards, given nationally from the Library of Congress.
*On October 19, 2018, Everybody Wins! Iowa received the Iowa Literacy award from the Iowa Center for the Book on at the State Law Library. The award serves to recognize an organization that has made an outstanding contribution to increasing literacy in the state of Iowa.
*In 2018, Everybody Wins! Iowa was honored by United Way Central Iowa with their Impact Maker Award for Advocacy at the Live United luncheon on April 30, 2018.
*In 2017, Drew Gentsch was one of five individuals honored with the statewide Excellence in Mentoring Awards on February 3, 2017. Established in 2009, the Excellence in Mentoring Awards gives Iowa Mentoring Partnership (IMP) certified programs the opportunity to recognize outstanding long-time youth mentors. Drew was selected for his over 13 years of service as a mentor with Everybody Wins! Iowa and for exemplifying both the spirit and positive benefits of mentoring.
As a non-profit organization, we rely solely on individual donations, grants, corporate partnerships, fundraisers, and community volunteers to support our programming. We provide all of the necessary resources to ensure a smoothly run program including: a part-time paid staff member to organize the program on site, volunteer background checks, books for the program and student book giveaways, the purchase of a book cart, volunteer resources, administrative costs and evaluation. We don't want to burden the school or community site with having to provide resources for our program, which is why we bring everything needed to them (at no cost), and for that reason we seek funding to help our students and communities.
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 identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, 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 look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, We've had high mobility of students served as well as in our entry level staffing
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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.
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.
Everybody Wins! Iowa
Board of directorsas of 01/29/2024
Amanda Bjornson
Amanda Ladd
Businessolver, Inc.
Term: 2015 - 2024
Amanda Bjornson
Principal Financial Group (retired)/Parent
Max Miller
McGowen Hurst Clark & Smith, PC
Amanda Ladd
Businessolver, Inc.
Mike Sheehy
John Deere Financial
Katie Jones
Iowa Department of Public Health
Rachel Simon
Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority
Tracy Petersen
Freelance Editor/Writer
Tyler Brommel
West Bank
Ken Chester
RoadWorthy Drive Productions Inc.
Valerie Gramlich
Principal Financial Group
Elizabeth Heffernan
Ahlers & Cooney, PLC
Kim Norvell
Des Moines Register
Betsy Noyes
Luke Roth
Myriad Advisor Solutions
Morgan Schultz
Ruan Transportation
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
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
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/25/2022GuideStar 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 ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.