EIN: 51-0155758
Mission Statement
Books change lives! The mission of RIF NOVA — Reading Is Fundamental of Northern Virginia — is to help improve children’s lives by providing books to build home libraries — a key metric to reading success. A new 5-year study published in 2026 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that books in home libraries make a huge difference to reading success, independent of economic status. Children who have books at home are more likely to read for enjoyment, build stronger literacy skills, and achieve greater academic success.
Program Summary
RIF NOVA is an all-volunteer nonprofit that provides books for underserved children at 30+ schools and sites in the City of Alexandria and in Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William counties. The organization has served the Northern Virginia community since 1972, during which time it has provided hundreds of thousands of books to area children, including many who have few – to even no – books in their homes.
Books for Keeps Program — Each year, RIF NOVA raises funds to purchase new books-of-their-own-choosing for 20,000+ children at several early childhood education centers and Title 1 schools. Each child served is able to choose at least one book to take home annually; important because children who choose their own books are three times more likely to be frequent readers. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “The only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home.” The RIF NOVA Books for Keeps Program begins to address this critical need.
Donated Books Program — During the pandemic when schools, school libraries, and public libraries were closed, RIF NOVA began a Donated Books Program to provide additional reading materials to children throughout our community. As of September 2026, the program had collected over 65,000 new and almost-new books for redistribution – not only to established RIF NOVA schools and sites but also to additional community partners and schools seeking reading materials for children and families.
Authors in Our Schools Program — This program brings authors and illustrators to RIF NOVA-supported schools to present about their books. Authors/illustrators engage students in the entire book process — from thinking of the idea to completing the finished product — and encourage them to take part in interactive programming throughout the presentations. Each student participant is able to take home an original autographed book, adding to the excitement of the event.
STEAM It Up! — In partnership with local business partners, this program was created to provide local students with age-appropriate books and hands-on STEAM activities, In the three years since its launch, projects have included building a maze, harmonica, bridge, working flashlight, or a Caesar cipher to learn elementary coding and decoding. All participants have been able to choose a STEAM-relevant book for keeps.
Impact Statement
A March 2023 Topic Paper from Scholastic noted that the likelihood of being on track in literacy and numeracy “almost doubled if at least one book was available in a student’s home.” RIF NOVA’s programs ensure that children in the schools we serve get at least one book every year from Pre-K to 6th grade and, thus, the opportunity over the course of their school years to build a home library. On this, the Scholastic paper noted: “Children in homes with more extensive home libraries read more, have higher-level reading skills, and attain more years of education overall than those with access to fewer books, even after controlling for parental education level.” The paper continued: “Increasing children’s access to books correlates to ‘dramatically positive effects’ on reading growth and achievement.” An in-depth 5-year study published in 2026 in the PNAS further validates the impact of books in home libraries on reading success, independent of economic circumstances.
The work of RIF NOVA – to provide at least one book annually to each child we serve and build, over the course of time, a home book library – is helping children to read – and succeed – in school and well beyond.
What ways can the public get involved?
Members of the public can help RIF NOVA to do its work in three major ways: Giving funding, giving time, and giving books.
Giving funding: Our most pressing need each year is to raise funds to purchase new books for 20,000+ underserved children at Title 1 schools and at several early childhood centers in Northern Virginia. Members of the public can help with this need by giving donations themselves, helping to identify and connect with potential donors (individuals, foundations, businesses, etc.), providing hands-on help with fundraising activities such as a biannual 5K, and helping to communicate the dire need for books for children in the NOVA community. We are particularly seeking business partners for funding and to develop and co-sponsor literacy-related programming that engages children in reading.
Giving time: Among those needed are volunteers with backgrounds or skills in fundraising, event planning, social media expansion, program development, grant writing, nonprofit leadership, and community engagement. Time contributions can range from helping with a specific project to joining our board for a more sustained commitment. Anyone with these skills or interests is encouraged to contact RIF NOVA at our email address: info@rifnova.org. We are particularly seeking committed volunteers to join our board.
Giving books: RIF NOVA augments its new book purchases by soliciting new and very gently (like new) used books from the community through book drives organized by individuals, businesses, and organizations. Volunteers are also needed to organize new/gently used book drives, to sort books for quality, and to help transport and distribute books at schools and community events.
How are charitable dollars spent? Where does my donation go?
Every $4.00 donation purchases one book for one child. The cost to provide one book each for 20,000+ children means an annual need to raise over $80,000 for our Books for Keeps program alone. Additional funding supports expanding special programming, including STEAM It Up! and Authors in Our Schools. Contributions to the Authors program can be used to bring local authors to schools for on-site visits, along with books signed by the author for each student participant. Donations to STEAM It Up! provide a hands-on STEAM activity and a STEAM-relevant book for each participating child. Additional funding is also used to increase the number of books given to each child annually or to increase the number of schools participating in RIF NOVA programming.
The all-volunteer board that raises funds and administers book distribution programming is not paid. Mandatory expenses (such as insurance, tax preparation, etc.) are kept to an absolute minimum and totaled six percent of expenses, as noted in our most recent tax filing.
Information provided September 2026