REACHING A BILLION
one reader at a time
Why reading matters
Worldwide,
617 million
children are not learning at a minimum
reading level
Illiterate people earn on average
35 PERCENT
less than their literate
counterparts
A child born to a literate mother is
50 PERCENT
more likely to live past the
age of 5
“The e-reader story has been very inspiring to our users. As I travel across the country, I have interacted with children, and I have seen the motivation and the inspiration in them.”
Richard Atuti, Director of the Kenya National Library Service
MESSAGE FROM
OUR CO-FOUNDERS
Dear friends, supporters, and partners:
A billion readers? You’re probably wondering how we’ll get there. So let’s pause for a moment.
Now, visualize a hockey stick.
Imagine its shape, size, and how it’s used. Maybe you’re thinking of an arena; maybe you’re remembering your childhood skating on a frozen pond; maybe you’re hearing the crunch of players colliding on the ice, or the roar of a crowd. And, apologies to the football/soccer fans among us. To you, maybe hockey is just some rare sport played in the frigid north.
Whatever you’re imagining – hold that thought. We’ll return to the hockey stick in a moment.
In the meantime, let’s reflect on some of Worldreader’s accomplishments in 2018 and take a glimpse at what’s ahead. Thanks to you, in 2018 we helped an additional three million people read, bringing the power of reading to more than 10 million individuals, who’ve read more than 100 million hours in 52 languages! We are expanding our programming across the global south in Africa, India, Jordan, and Mexico, while starting new programming in Peru.
Behind these numbers are the lives of real people and their triumphs: Isis, a teacher in Mexico, helps her young-adult learners discover new worlds by reading to them from her mobile phone. Meanwhile, Mayada, a Syrian refugee in Jordan, bonds with her children, helping them heal from the trauma of war, by reading stories from the Worldreader Kids app. In India, Alka uses digital stories with complementary lessons to educate early learners in her primary classroom.
We should all be proud of our role in helping these readers, yet humbled by the millions more still to reach. Reaching these readers requires new thinking, rather than feeling intimidated by the enormity of the issue.
It requires a hockey stick – that is, a way to take the number of people we help and change the slope of the curve so that it skyrockets up and to the right – reaching tens of millions of people every year, rather than mere millions.
So we’ve spent the last year looking inward and outward – at our strengths as an organization and the needs of our potential readers. We’ve thought a lot about how to build a sustainable model so that we can help more people read, at ever-lower costs, reaching a billion more quickly.
We’ve staffed up with an exceptional executive team, offering leadership in programming, fundraising, communications, operations, and finance.
And we’ve tuned up our operations based on this strategy:
Worldreader will provide affordable state-of-the-art technology, appropriate for under-resourced communities.
Worldreader will provide quality books and complementary content focusing on relevant content from local publishers in the regions where we work, including audio books, special collections, and the like.
Worldreader will focus on curation. Building on our current catalog of 35,000 digital titles, we will design standard collections around reading levels, grades, language needs, and themes. We will then work with teachers and partners to develop custom collections, and donors to fund the expansion of our offerings.
Worldreader will collect reading data to provide insights. Our software tracks which devices are being used, when and how much reading is happening, and what books are popular. We will share data about reading frequency and levels with our education and publishing partners while ensuring our readers’ privacy.
Worldreader will provide savings. In most low-income countries, school budgets typically provide four-five books at a cost of $30 per student/year. Worldreader can provide 150 digital books including an e-reader at a cost of $1 per student/month.
Worldreader believes that sustainable impact comes from sharing costs and responsibilities and ultimately ownership. We will ask donors to support the development and continuous improvement of our content library, software, and data analytics resources. For our implementing partners, we will offer below market rates, while asking them to dedicate their resources towards supporting the program.
With your support, we’ve begun implementing this strategy in 2019, and it shows great promise. In fact, if we’re successful, a few years from now we’ll be able to graph the number of people that you’ve helped us support, and it will look like . . .
A hockey stick.
Every child and every adult deserves the opportunity to read – for education, economic opportunity, better health, gender equality, and just for fun.
Thank you for helping the world read.
David Risher
CEO & Co-Founder, Worldreader
Colin McElwee
Co-Founder, Worldreader
Our readers around the world
Meet our readers. Explore our regions. 
In 2018, Worldreader supported programming in schools and libraries in five regions, while readers across 49 countries benefited from Worldreader’s digital library.
Duncan, Kenya
A young man in Kenya accesses the Worldreader library via e-readers in his local library.
Digital books can deliver empowering content that challenges gender stereotypes and helps tackle gender inequality.
19-year-old Duncan is from Kenya. He comes from a community where gender inequality and gender stereotypes about a women’s role in society continue to hold women and girls back from reaching their full potential.
Duncan, who goes to the community library every day to read, doesn’t believe in these stereotypes. His favorite book, The River and the Source by Margaret A. Ogola, teaches him otherwise. The book, which tells the story of a girl from his community, portrays women in non-traditional roles. It tackles themes related to marriage, education, motherhood, and leadership, depicting women and girls as important members of society.
“The book taught me that we should not look down on our sisters,” says Duncan.
Duncan is able to access this content thanks to Worldreader’s LEAP project which brought e-readers filled with books to 61 libraries across Kenya – Duncan’s community library was one of those libraries. Duncan’s exposure to these empowering ideas is helping to rewrite gender norms.
East Africa
Over the years, we’ve worked in dozens of schools and libraries across East Africa. We’ve also had millions of readers access our library via their mobile phones in this region.
Our LEAP project brought digital reading to all 61 public libraries in Kenya. Our Anasoma pilot project was the first of our dedicated efforts to leverage digital reading to empower women and girls.
Our LOCAL project – which we are also implementing in West Africa – is bringing local language books to 20 libraries across Uganda and Zambia, helping to create an environment in which more children can learn in their mother-tongue language.
Mr. Anani, Ghana
A primary school teacher in Ghana uses textbooks from the Worldreader library in his classroom via e-readers.
Digital textbooks give teachers and students access to all the learnings required to achieve success in school.
Mr. Anani is a teacher at Asuom-Amanfrom District Assembly Primary School in Ghana. He teaches religious and moral education (RME) to his young students.
Mr. Anani loves his job but it hasn’t been easy. For the last 10 years, the school hasn’t had any RME textbooks. This has made it very difficult for Mr. Anani to give his students the best learning experience possible.
As part of our Ghana District Scale project, Mr. Anani’s school is one of over 40 schools in the district that have received e-readers filled with digital books.
Now, Mr. Anani and his students have RME textbooks to use in class. Students are finally able to make sense of the complex topics and values that Mr. Anani so devotedly wishes to impart to them.
West Africa
West Africa is where it all started. From the very beginning, West Africa has been one of the most important regions for the experimentation, innovation, and expansion of Worldreader projects.
Each of our projects is unique in its objectives – whether it is tackling issues around scale, data or gender equality.
Ghana District Scale is scaling digital reading to all 90 public schools within the Kwaebibirem Municipality. Worldreader Student is an app that uses data insights to give students an optimized reading experience, while incentivizing them to keep reading. Inspire Us leverages mobile technology and literature to redefine gender stereotypes and boost women’s empowerment.
Ms. Alka, India
A primary school teacher in Delhi uses our Worldreader Kids app in her classroom via a tablet.
Digital storybooks with complementary activities help primary teachers improve early grade learning and student participation.
Ms. Alka walks inside her classroom greeting all of the children one by one. As Ms. Alka tells her students about the story that she is going to narrate today, they all jump with excitement.
The stories on the tablet are not only entertaining, they are also carefully curated and come with lesson plans mapped to learning outcomes. This helps Ms. Alka confidently support her students’ learning.
Going beyond the classroom, Ms. Alka and Ms Anju (the principal of the school) regularly meet the parents. Parents are shown how to access our library via their mobile phones and told about the importance of regularly reading to their children.
This multi-pronged approach ensures that these young students from the most impoverished communities are being given the best chance to succeed.
India
Our work in India focuses on early childhood education. In close collaboration with the Central Institute of Educational Technologies and local NGOs, we pioneered the innovative Read to Kids program.
The program brings a reading app with a rich collection of digital storybooks to parents via their mobile phones, so they can read with their children. Having seen encouraging results in the communities, we are now expanding into primary schools and public daycare centres.
Teachers are using our reading app on tablets to improve learning outcomes among young students. Our work in India has already reached over 200,000 families.
Mayada, Jordan
A Syrian mother in Jordan uses our Worldreader Kids app in her home via her mobile phone.
Digital reading can bring comfort to children in distress through empowering stories and family bonding.
Mayada is the proud mother of four girls. When the war in Syria threatened their safety, Mayada and her family fled to Jordan to find refuge. It’s taken Mayada’s daughters time to adjust to their new lives in Jordan.
To help one of her daughters overcome her low self-esteem, Mayada reads to her. She reads stories like The Birds Words by Helen Patuck. The story is about a little girl who, with the support of her teacher, learns to feel at home in a new place.
Reading books to her daughters via the Worldreader Kids app has helped Mayada’s daughter believe in herself and has brought the whole family closer together.
Middle east
Our work in Jordan aims to support the educational and emotional growth of children impacted by the Syrian refugee crisis. Worldreader officially launched Worldreader Kids (Tuta Tuta) in August 2018.
The project encourages and enables vulnerable Jordanian and refugee caregivers to support their children’s learning and strengthen the bond between caregiver and child by reading to them via the free Worldreader Kids mobile app.
The app contains a wide collection of high-quality Arabic stories for children aged 0-12 as well as a sub-collection of English titles.
By combining direct work in communities through our local implementation partners with a widespread digital awareness campaign, the project has already reached over 50,000 families.
Ms. Isis, Mexico
A teacher in Mexico uses our Avanzalee app in the classroom via her mobile phone
Digital books can introduce young adults to literature that will ignite their passions for reading, helping them become lifelong learners.
Ms. Isis is a teacher from Guerrero – located 200 miles south of Mexico City, it’s one of the country’s poorest and most violent states.
Today she lives in Mexico City and teaches at a public high school.
Ms. Isis understands how crucial it is to prepare her students for success later in life. Unfortunately, most of Ms. Isis’ students don’t read – not because they can’t read, but because they haven’t discovered their love for reading.
Ms. Isis works tirelessly to create a culture of reading in the classroom, but until recently students were mainly exposed to textbooks, which made it very difficult to ignite their interest in reading. With the Avanzalee app for mobile phones, Ms. Isis and her students have started reading literature that spans far beyond the coursework, inspiring them to discover new worlds.
Latin America
In Mexico, our Avanzalee project targets Mexican youth with the aim of fostering a love of reading. As part of the project, we work with local organizations and schools to deliver high-quality and relevant content to these young adults. We also provide trainings to teachers so they can best incorporate the literature into their lesson plans.
In Peru, our recently launched Crecelee project targets children in grades one to three with the aim of instilling reading habits from a young age. The project will reach 50 schools and 10,000 households over five years. The project will leverage Worldreader’s digital library on tablets and mobile phones to help teachers and parents read with young children.
Our approach
We support readers around the world with Worldreader apps and programming. Our approach is built on a foundation of these elements.
Technology
We reach readers with a digital library via affordable state-of-the-art devices such as e-readers, tablets, and mobile phones.
Content
We deliver relevant, dynamic content with agility to our readers through acquisition, enrichment, and curation services.
Partnerships
We join forces with partners to make a bigger difference. Our partners range from NGOs and publishers to corporations and foundations.
Local capacity
We train schools, libraries, and families to help them get the most out of our reading programs.
Insights
We use data insights to improve our collections, improve educational outcomes, and create a better reading experience for our readers.
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“My youngest boy always asks me to read him a story. He’s grown used to me reading him a story every night before he sleeps. It remind me of when I was a child and my grandmother would tell us stories. “
Shadia, Amman, Jordan
2018 Financials
Worldreader is committed to high financial integrity and transparency. We apply our various resources in innovative and responsible ways to create a world where everyone can be reader.
$12.1 Million
total contributions
$2.8 Million
in-kind donations
$2.18
cost per reader
Revenue
Individuals
$5,663,721
In-kind
$2,757,442
Foundations
$2,498,780
Corporations
$606,184
Earned Revenue
$559,649
Other
$24,063
Total Revenue
$12,109,839
Use of funds
Program Services
$8,053,769
Management & General
$1,716,653
Fundraising
$1,029,483
Total Expenses
$10,799,905
Support the digital reading movement
Sponsor
a school or preschool
When you sponsor a school or preschool, students will receive e-readers, e-books, and Worldreader’s expertise.
Join with your colleagues and volunteer
Does your workplace have an employee volunteer program? Find out how you and your team can help.
Join the Reading for Opportunity campaign
We’re working towards reaching 10 million more readers by 2020. Will you join us?
A year in thought leadership
Featured partners
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A year in videos
Worldreader Kids promotional video for caregivers in Jordan
Camfed and Worldreader partner to empower students
Simi talks about reading books on her mobile phone
Famous Ghanaian rap star sings about reading
Our Supporters
Individual and Family Supporters
Multi-Year Support
We are pleased to recognize these forward-thinking donors who have committed multi-year pledges to sustain our growth and impact for years to come.
Epic Pledges
$500,000 – $1,000,000 and above
Chris Capossela and Leigh Toner
Jennifer and David Risher
Kaphan Foundation
Terry Atkinson and Kathy Taylor
Anthology Pledges
$250,000 – $499,999
Kate James and Hans Bishop
Klintworth Family Foundation
Sakurako and Bill Fisher
Novel Pledges
$100,000 – $249,999
Charles and Lorie Brighton
Carolyn Kroll Reidy and Stephen Reidy
Donna and Matthew Bellew
Joel Spiegel and Karen Van Dusen
LJ Ross
Otis and Elizabeth Chandler
Peter and Elisabetta Mallinson Trust
Wilke Family Foundation
Poetry Pledges
$25,000 – $99,999
Adam Bosworth
Colleen and Clyde McQueen
Larry Hitchon and Dana Reid
Lauri and Greg Nakamoto
Maryam Mohit and Erik Blachford
Neil Roseman and Rose Tatlow
Sponsor Pledges
$10,000 – $24,999
JJ Jacobi
Martin and Victoria Nye
Annual Gifts
Worldreader is pleased to recognize these generous donors for gifts supporting our 2018 programs and operations.
Epic Circle
$1,000,000 and above
Cynthia and Steve Hammer
Novel Circle
$100,000 – $249,999
Peter and April Spiro
Poetry Circle
$25,000 – $99,999
Dana Johnson and Mark Nelson
Harrison Miller and Clare McCamy
Lisa and Peter Nitze
Star Soltan and Dillon Lerach
Sue and Duff Sanderson
Thacher Family Philanthropy Fund
Tod and Allison Nielsen
Sponsors
$10,000 – $24,999
Brad and Jan Silverberg
Carol Risher
Craig and Susan Bruya
David Dominguez
Diego Piacentini and Monica Nicoli
James Osborne
Kartik Raghavan
Margaret A Meyer Family Foundation
Mary Case
Pam Fleischer
Sarah Risher
Thomas and Deborah Cole
Viral Patel
Ambassadors
$5,000 – $9,999
David Zapolsky and Lynn Hubbard
John and Jessica Fullerton
Neen and Krik Koenigsbauer
Mike Nugent
Van der Wansem Foundation
Cintra Pollock and the Singer Family Foundation
Stephanie and Jim Gamble
The Family of Sibyl Frankenburg and Steve Kessel
Timothy and Jennifer Kingston
Tom Alberg and Judi Beck
Advocates
$2,500 – $4,999
Dhiren Shah
Hermione and Tobin Ireland
Josh Schweitzer and Mary Sue Milliken
Lindsay and Patti Eberts
Lisa Brummel and Celeste Keaton
Robert Short and Emer Dooley
Supporters
$1,000 – $2,499
Alan and Vic Caplan
Angela Reynar
Catherine Stocker
Christina Vrachnos
Deborah Yeh and Mark Risher
Elizabeth and Olof Carmel
Frances and Mac Merenda
Gabe Tsuboyama
George and Cherry Snelling
Greg Hart
Greg Linden
Haroula Kosmatos and David Fildes
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Jane and Max Slade
Jodie Jones and Leland Rockoff
Joseph Synk
Juanita Baker
Kevin Phaup
Kim Rachmeler
Michel Roger Goffin
Peter Orth
Richard Ward and Cheryl Capriola
Sean and Heidi Williams
Sherry and Edward Guy
Steve and Heather Murch
Taleb Salhab
Tamra Myers
Walter Baddoo
Corporations
Accenture
Amazon
Amazon UK
Amazon Web Services
Atlassian
Bonfire Media Pty Ltd
Caja de Ingenieros
Cheongna Dalton School
Digital Reality Trust
Ebrolis PR LLC
FMLY Store
Gravy Live
Humble Bundle
HUSZPO
IBC Equity Partners
IBM Employee Services Center
Inverse
KPMG
McKinsey & Company
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Matching Gifts Program
Mobile Jazz
Opera
Orrick
Paypal
Pearson
PepsiCo Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa
PepsiCo France
SAGE Publishing
Survey Monkey
TD Ameritrade
Tease and Totes
TisBest Charity Gift Cards
TT Partnership Ltd.
University College School
Zemantics OÜ
Institutions
AmazonSmile Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bright Funds Foundation
Clif Bar Family Foundation
Cotton On Foundation
Google Inc. Employee Giving
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Jane Austen Literacy Foundation
Kismet 805 Foundation
Larry L. Hillblom Foundation
Margaret A Meyer Family Foundation
Matthew E. Russell Foundation
Members Give
Pledgeling Foundation
Promotora Social Mexico
Purpose Portfolio Foundation
HGB Fund
Quest Foundation
R.Y.T.H.M. Foundation
Singer Family Foundation
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Tableau Foundation
The K Foundation
The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation
Featured publishers
Adivaani
Akhlesh.com
Al hudhud
Amazon Publishing
American University Nigeria
Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC)
Berrett-Koehler
Bispiral, s.r.o.
Bookbyte Digital
Books Go Walkabout
Carus Publishing
Children for Health
Chronicle Books
Crossway
Daily Dump
Dar al Yasmine
Dar Asala
Dolphin Press
Dorling Kindersley (Penguin Random House)
Duckbill Books
Egmont UK Limited
Eklavya
Fantastic Phonics
Grey Gecko Press, LLC
Grupo Editorial Miguel Ángel Porrúa
Hardie Grant Egmont
HarperCollins UK
Hesperian Health Guides
icharacter
InfoMarvel Business Solutions Inc.
Iris the Dragon
Jabal Amman
JourneyForth Books
Kalimat Books
Kids Can Press
Kitabna
Little Pickle Press
Longhorn Publishers, PLC
Magic MasterMinds LLC
Majdalawi
MME Media
MobilTrain Knowledge Services Pvt. Ltd.
Mountain Top Publishers Ltd.
Muskaan
NALAP (Ghana Ministry of Education)
National Council of Educational Research and Training
New Readers Press (ProLiteracy)
OnceUponATiger.com
One Moore Book
Open Road Integrated Media
Osu Children’s Library
Penguin Books India (Penguin Random House)
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House Iberia
Pickle Yolk Books
Prabhat Books
Praski Publishing
Pratham Books
Queen Girls Publications, LLC
Radhakrishna Prakashan
Rajkamal Prakashan
Rimal Books
Rose Petal Press
RosettaBooks
Sam-Woode Ltd.
Sanjay & Company
Sesame Workshop India
Shepard Publications
Short Story Day Africa
Simon & Schuster
Small Beer Press
Smartline Publishing
Speaking Tiger Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
Sterling Publishers (P) Ltd.
Story Shares
StoryWeaver
Strategic Book Group Publishers
Studio Brian Communications
The International School of Art, Business, and Technology
The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation
Tulika Publishers
Urban Fox Studios
V&S Publishers
Womancraft Publishing
Thank
You
All of this impact has been made possible by dedicated supporters like you. Thank you for helping the world read.
We hope you’ll share these incredible milestones with your friends and family.
