Reading Is Power International Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
571110639
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Columbia, SC, USA
Phone
8037998267
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,979
Expenses
$8,716
Assets
$36,648
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Michael S Leonard (Co-Founder)
  • Joseph N Connell (Co-Founder)
  • Esmeralda Rodriguez (Treasurer/Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Provide small libraries to families and communities

What it reported doing in 2025

Throughout 2025, Reading is Power International continued its collaboration with Richland Library and Lexington County Public Library to provide the high-quality bilingual and Spanish-language books to local families. Together, we created 88 home libraries containing 2,268 bilingual developmental, read-aloud, and picture books for preschool children in local Spanish-speaking families in the Columbia, South Carolina area. The goal of this project is to improve school readiness for Spanish-speaking children ages 3 to 5 while also helping them develop a love of reading and books. The bilingual books were carefully chosen so that both non-English-speaking parents and their English-speaking school-age children could read aloud to the preschool children in the home. This helps strengthen language skills while also building emotional bonds among family members. Families who received the home libraries were identified through a variety of sources, including Adult ESL programs, preschool support programs, parenting programs, corporations with largely Spanish-speaking workforces, and local library branches. Over the years, we have found that some of our most meaningful partnerships are with Adult ESL programs, especially those serving parents of preschool-aged children. These partnerships create a dual benefit. Parents gain access to resources that support their own language learning, while their children experience the joy of bilingual books through our home libraries. This two-generation approach continues to make a lasting difference for families by encouraging learning, language development, and a love of books across generations. With 26 years of experience, we have learned that the best way to maximize our time, resources, and community impact is to support organizations and programs that are already making a difference in the lives of children and families. By partnering with these successful programs, we can extend the reach and value of bilingual home libraries both in our local community and beyond. This year, we were grateful to expand our reach and provide books to a wide range of outstanding organizations. Each of these groups plays an important role in supporting families, children, and communities. Together, we are helping give parents and children the tools they need to thrive. Below is a snapshot of the organizations we proudly partnered with this year: --Great Kids & Awesome Adults --Kid Connections Therapy --Lexington School District Four Adult Education --Lexington School District Four First Steps --Lexington School District One Family Center --Lutheran Services Carolinas School for Unaccompanied Minors --Platt Springs Learning Center Head Start --Richland County First Steps --Richland Library --Riverbank Elementary, Lexington School District Two --STAR Family Partnership of Lexington School District Two --William Jennings Bryan Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 99.4%; rating input score 99

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -24.9%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.2; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.6% per year; rating input score 0; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -10.6% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 99.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.