I had the great pleasure of attending a Stanford Breakfast Briefing last week, to hear John Wood, Founder and CEO of Room to Read. Room to Read is a non-profit based in San Francisco that is dedicated to building schools, providing books, and supporting girls' education in third world and developing nations. John is the author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
His story is a compelling one, as is the cause that he champions. Only a few years ago, John Wood was a burned-out Microsoft marketing manager who went on a trekking vacation in the Himalayas. While there, he met some local people who offered to show him their school. It was basically a dirt hut with minimal furnishings and about 400 students. They showed him the school library, which was an empty room with tables and no books. When he asked about the books, they showed him a padlocked closet with 20 books left behind by backpackers, none of which were suitable for children (Hermann Hesse, Gunter Grass and Danielle Steele seemed to top the list). He was rightfully appalled at this and offered to come back and help.
He went home and collected children's books from friends, and returned with a yak-load of books. This was the beginning of a career change for him, and the birth of a new non-profit, and a new way of thinking about how non-profits operate.
John's idea was to raise money for schools in the US, Europe, and Australia, but empower local people to actually build the schools and run the operations. It costs $15,000 to endow a school in Cambodia, and $250 for a scholarship to send a girl to school for one year, including books, uniforms, and a bicycle for those who live far from the school building. The organization also publishes children's books in the local language, written by local people, including some children.
The scope of the work being done by this group is nothing short of amazing. John uses an innovative approach to running his non-profit--he runs it as a business, showing quarterly results to his "shareholders" or those who fund the operations. The fundraising is done by small groups of white-collar individuals around the world who host parties and fundraisers. Individual families can endow a school, then take a trip to see the school that their money build. For $15,000, you could not endow a toilet stall at Stanford, but for that same amount, you could build a school for many generations to use in India or Nepal or Sub-Saharan Africa.
His three organizaing principles in starting the organization were:
- Empowering local communities
- Run the organization like a business
- Dream big
Room to Read has completed schools and projects in India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Southern Africa, and has plans for Latin America. 88% of the funds raised go directly to the projects and not to overhead.
John Wood is an entertaining speaker, and clearly, a man on a mission. He said that the best gift we can give the world's children is to become "action-oriented optimists" and do something that benefits the next generation. Room to Read sounds like a great organization, and I was inspired to drop off a donation as I left the meeting. If you're looking for a project for a school group or for your own family foundation, check out Room to Read.
