Read USA Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474729513
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2018
Location
Atlantic Beach, FL, USA
Phone
9047323872
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,971,761
Expenses
$3,703,759
Assets
$854,044
Liabilities
$1,452,419

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROBERT H KELLY JR (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROBERT H KELLY JR (CEO): $176,158 total reported compensation
  • TABETHA COX (CPO): $106,923 total reported compensation
  • HOLDEN SCYSTER (COO): $106,923 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Read USA's mission is to drive workforce development through its literacy tutoring model that equips teens with leadership training and essential workforce skills, leading to multiple pathways to career opportunities. At the same time, read USA helps children achieve - and often surpass - grade-level reading proficiency through its research-based, multi-layered programming.

What it reported doing in 2025

Read USA expanded its literacy tutoring intervention program, employing, training, and supervising over 375 teens and hiring over 100 licensed educators within the school district. These teen tutors received training on the curriculum materials and professional work environment expectations and skills. They were then paired with nearly 1,100 elementary school students identified by the school district as below grade level readers for daily, intensive one-to-one literacy tutoring sessions in duval county elementary schools. Pre- and post-assessment tests were analyzed and verified by a third-party source, the Ohio state university, through a randomized control trial study which proved the intervention to be highly effective in producing reading gains for both the teen tutors as well as the younger students they led.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 7
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.1%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 69.1%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.47 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -24.6%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.7; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.2%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 25.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 31.8% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.2% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.1% of revenue deployed · 69.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $176K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.