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History
Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF) is a national, non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. It has a staff headed by a president and a chairman of the board. RIF is a program designed to motivate children and young people to read by offering them attractive paperback books that are uniquely relevant to their needs and interests.
Margaret C. McNamara started the program in Washington in 1966 after discovering that two young boys she was tutoring had never owned any books. Mrs. McNamara felt that these children, and many others, would become more interested in reading if they could choose and keep for themselves those books that appealed to them. Freedom of choice and pride of ownership are guiding principles of RIF.
In 1972, with the guidance and assistance of RIF, the Service League of Northern Virginia (now the Junior League of Northern Virginia) established a RIF project in the City of Alexandria serving 5,000 elementary school children. The League allocated $10,000 a year for a three-year period to this project, with the understanding that it would then be turned over to a Board of Directors chosen from community leaders in Northern Virginia.
In 1975 Reading Is Fundamental of Northern Virginia, Inc. (RIF of NOVA), composed of a forty-member community-based Board of Directors, was established to carry on the RIF programs that the League had launched. The Board included classroom and reading teachers, librarians, principals, parents, members of the business community, a school superintendent, a school board member, and several school administrators as well as the President of Marymount University. Each member brought to the Board his or her expertise and a willingness to work.
One of the major tasks of this new, independent Board of Directors was to solicit contributions from the community in order to assist those programs with limited financial resources. Diverse contributors and fundraising projects provided, and continue to provide, a substantial part of the RIF of NOVA budget. Examples of the wide range of funding sources include: Parent-Teacher Associations, charitable foundations, community organizations, college and professional sororities, corporations, churches, school boards and, more recently, the United Way/Combined Federal Campaign.
In 1976, Congress enacted the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program, which provided funds through the Office of Education to eligible RIF projects nationwide. In 1977, this enabled RIF of NOVA to expand its programs and reach children in numbers previously beyond its fundraising capabilities. In addition to the city of Alexandria, the project expanded to include Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties, and continues to serve children of diverse economic, racial, ethnic and academic backgrounds.
In the 2005-2006 school year, 31,000 children in RIF of NOVA programs were able to choose and keep 93,000 free, colorful paperback books! These book distributions occurred three times during the school year in 70 RIF of NOVA programs at 133 sites throughout Northern Virginia. Margaret McNamara died in 1981 leaving a legacy of a motivation to read to children in all fifty states. One woman's dream, nurtured by dedicated volunteers and funded by forward-thinking foundations, now reaches millions of children nationwide.