Room to Read Founder Speaks at NYU Reynolds Speaker Series

17 Oct

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For my social entrepreneur feature installment, I was fortunate enough to snag a seat for the NYU Reynolds Program, “Social Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century,” speaker series and listened to John Wood, founder of Room to Read.

In 2000, Wood left a successful position at Microsoft to begin Room to Read, a non-profit organization providing books to children in developing countries.

The inspiration for Room to Read came when Wood was on a trip to Nepal and visited a rural village. Wood was taken aback by the lack of resources available to students and teachers who were genuinely excited to learn. During the trip, he made the commitment to bring back 1,000 books on his next visit.

With the help from his parents, Wood managed to deliver 3,000 books on eight donkeys back to the rural village. Upon delivery, a teacher told Wood the day the books arrived was the biggest day in the village’s history.

As Wood explained during his presentation, the teacher went on praise Wood for doing so much for the village but disappointed the village couldn’t do more for him.

In actuality, the village provided a sign and a vision. He wanted to end the idea that your destiny is not tied to your demographic.

Since its beginning, Room to Read has grown to quite an extraordinary non-profit organization (NPO). Today, the NPO has a $40 million dollar budget and services nine developing countries. With the budget, Room to Read provides the delivery of books, publishes books in the native language, and builds schools and libraries. Besides working on education as a whole, Room to Read really strives at providing education and success to girls—a disadvantaged gender in many countries.

Since the launch of Room to Read, 1,443 schools have been built, 12,000 libraries, 585 books published, and 9.4 million distributed. According to Wood, last year alone, Room to Read built approximately 200 schools and  2,000 libraries.

One aspect of Room to Read I find instrumental is the non-profit doesn’t actually participate in the labor when building the schools or libraries. One of Room to Read’s philosophy is “we cannot help you, unless you can help yourself.” I think a local village or government must really want education and is willing to work for it.

Part of what makes Room to Read a success can be attributed to Wood using a business model in a NPO setting. Some of his recommendations are highlighted below.

  1. Make the non-profit like a business model and run it like a business.
  2. “What gets measure, gets done.” Have goals where results can be recorded.
  3. Refuse to call people donors, they are investors. People want to see results and where their money is being used
  4. Transparency. Room to Read has always provided all financial information, audits, and evaluations on their website. Wood believes it has helped land grants Room to Read would otherwise not have received. After the Three Cups of Tea scandal, transparency is a necessity for all NPOs
  5. With growth, get a board. Wood suggests a board where people not only are experts in their field but also care about success and the investors. Don’t have a “cupcake board,” where the NPO can walk all over it.

I believe the lessons Wood provides are imperative to anyone thinking of starting a non-profit organization. There is approximately 1.5 million NPOs competing for dollars in the U.S., and the more organized a non-profit is the better chance they will have receiving grants and “investments.”

Wood does not want to stop until “born at the wrong place, at the wrong time, to the wrong parents” becomes a part of human history. With approximately 300 million children waking up today and not going to school, it seems Wood has his work cut out for him.

Tags: , , , ,

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 49 other followers

Powered by WordPress.com
Togel Online Situs Togel Terpercaya daftar 10 nama situs togel terpercaya situs bo togel 5 bandar togel togel178 pedetogel sabatoto togel158 pragmatic178 novaslot88 Situs Togel Terpercaya Togel178 Togel279 Toto Macau Situs Togel Bandar Togel Agen Togel Bo Togel Daftar Togel Togel279 Toto Macau Toto Togel Sabatoto Sabatoto Sabatoto Togel279 Togel Online Slot88 Situs Togel Prize 123 Bo Togel Terpercaya Togel Online Daftar Akun Togel Resmi Toto Macau Toto Togel Situs Togel Terpercaya Situs Togel Via Pulsa Tanpa Potongan Daftar Togel Via Pulsa Tanpa Potongan Togel BBFS 10 Digit Situs Togel Bonus New Member Situs Togel Togel Pulsa Situs Togel Daftar Situs Togel Situs Togel Terpercaya Situs Judi Togel Slot Olympus Toto Togel Slot 4D Toto Slot 4D BO Togel Terpercaya Slot Mahjong Bet 200 Slot Nuke Gaming BO Togel Hadiah 2D 200rb BO Togel Hadiah 2D 100rb BO Togel 4D Daftar Akun Togel Resmi Togel Gopay Toto Togel 4D Bandar Togel Togel Deposit Linkaja Togel Terpercaya Situs Togel Bri Online 24 Jam Situs Bandar Togel Situs Agen Togel Situs BO Togel Situs Togel Resmi Toto Bandar Judi Togel Daftar Bandar Togel Situs Togel Diskon Daftar Togel Toto Situs Togel Prize 123 Situs Togel Resmi WLA 5 bandar Togel Togel IDN APK Togel Togel Dana Togel Ovo Link Slot Gacor Group BO Togel Situs Judi Togel Online24jam Terpercaya Togel Bebas Invest Slot Anti Rungkat Dadu Sicbo Toto Togel Togel Bet 100 Aplikasi Togel Togel Dana Bo Togel Toto Slot togel e-wallet Togel Online 10 situs togel terpercaya daftar akun togel resmi Pasaran Togel 10 situs togel terpercaya Situs Togel Terpercaya togel online Situs Bo Togel BBFS 10 Digit Kumpulan Situs Togel Link Alternatif Togel Toto situs togel terpercaya prize 123 link alternatif togel terpercaya Situs Togel Bet 100 Perak Daftar Situs Togel Via Dana slot luar negeri Bo Togel Hadiah 2D 200rb Togel Resmi Bandar Togel 4D Aplikasi Togel Situs Togel Deposit Via Ovo Bandar Togel Terbaik situs togel bri online 24 jam Situs Togel Terpercaya Kumpulan Situs Togel Terpercaya Situs Togel Terpercaya Situs Togel Bandar Togel Terbesar Situs Togel Prize 123 Situs Togel Terpercaya Daftar Agen Togel Resmi Aplikasi Togel Terpercaya Situs Togel Terbesar Agen Togel Terpercaya Rekomendasi Bo Togel Terpercaya Togel Resmi WLA Situs Togel Deposit 10rb 10 Situs Togel Terpercaya Togel Bbfs Situs Togel Bet 100 Perak Situs Togel 4D situs togel 8 situs togel terpercaya 5 bandar togel slot demo mahjong aplikasi togel link togel group situs togel situs togel terpercaya judi togel bo togel hadiah 2d 100rb toto macau aplikasi togel bo togel bolak balik bandar togel daftar akun togel resmi togel dana togel pasaran toto togel situs bandar togel BO TOGEL situs togel resmi bo togel terpercaya Slot Luar Negeri bo togel hadiah 2d 200rb Bo Togel Hadiah 2d 100rb bo togel bo togel bolak balik acak dibayar bo togel resmi Dadu Sicbo Online 10 situs togel terbesar situs toto togel 10 situs togel terpercaya daftar akun togel resmi slot demo pragmatic situs judi togel terbaik dan terpercaya no 1 demo slot pg soft pedetogel togel178 togel279 togel158 sabatoto novaslot88 pragmatic178 toto macau roulette online Casino Live slot kamboja togel dana togel bbfs 10 digit togel bebas invest togel e-wallet togel pasaran togel dan slot bandar togel toto macau toto macau resmi toto togel 4d togel dana toto macau 4d Toto Slot agen togel toto togel togel dana cara membuat akun togel di hp android cara pasang togel togel diskon terbesar togel luar negeri togel prize slot nuke gaming toto macau Situs Togel Terpercaya Link Togel Terpercaya Daftar Togel Slot Olympus Slot PG Soft Bandar Togel Hadiah 4D 10 Juta Terpercaya Toto Macau Toto Togel Bandar Togel Terpercaya Toto Macau Togel 4D Situs Togel Via Dana Rekomendasi Togel Terpercaya Daftar Bandar Togel Togel Resmi Terpercaya Situs Togel Bayaran Tertinggi Kumpulan Situs Togel Terpercaya Situs Togel Bet 100 Perak Rekomendasi Togel Terpercaya Situs Togel Bet 100 Perak Situs Togel Terlengkap Judi Togel Online Slot Luar Negeri Toto Macau Togel Via Pulsa Togel Online situs togel bo togel judi togel aplikasi togel bo togel hadiah 2d 100rb situs bandar togel Toto Togel 10 Situs Togel Terpercaya Togel Via Dana Toto Macau Togel Online Toto Togel