Raising a Reader builds early literacy skills through family engagement nationwide.
Raising a Reader builds early literacy skills through family engagement nationwide.
After being nurtured from a local program rooted in the Bay Area to growing into a national organization reaching over 150,000 children ages 0-8 and their families across the nation each year, Raising a Reader is becoming an independent nonprofit organization. For more than two decades, Raising a Reader has been a “supporting organization” to Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), operating under the umbrella of the community foundation and supporting its mission.
Even as Raising a Reader becomes a nonprofit independent from SVCF, our shared values are rooted in equity and our two organizations will continue collaborating for the benefit of children and families.
Together we have supported nearly two million children and their families with Raising a Reader’s evidence-based programs that provide diverse award-winning books and the bilingual tools and training that facilitate early literacy milestones, serving the children in our communities who face the most vulnerable children.
We have enjoyed a warm and collaborative relationship with SVCF that will continue long into the future. We are so grateful for their guidance and stewardship as we have developed award-winning early literacy and family engagement programs that are proven to help build healthy brains and healthy shared reading habits that are so critical to raising readers.
“For over two decades, it has been our honor to support Raising a Reader and help foster its growth locally initially in San Mateo County and as the organization expanded its work nationally,” said Nicole Taylor, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. “We are proud to have been part of Raising a Reader’s journey, and we know that it will improve the lives of more children and families nationwide as it becomes a fully independent organization.”
And to the many generous SVCF donors who have directed gifts from their donor advised funds in support of Raising a Reader throughout our 23-year history, we thank you for your generous investment and we look forward to keeping you engaged and up to date with our progress as we continue to scale and serve even more children in the spaces and places where there is the greatest need for Raising a Reader.
“We are so grateful to Silicon Valley Community Foundation for our partnership. In this time, we have accomplished so much, including serving nearly two million children and families across the country and over 11,000 each year right here in Silicon Valley thanks to our tremendous partnerships with local donors and agencies, such as San Mateo County Public Library, our first ever Affiliate,” said Michelle Torgerson, Raising a Reader President and CEO. “We are excited about the future of Raising a Reader and confident in our ability to grow and scale our work in diverse communities across the nation.”
Raising a Reader’s transition to independent nonprofit status was effective as of January 1, 2023