Grant Information

• The RIF grant award doubles the amount of money you have to purchase RIF programs for the children you serve with RIF’s match equal to your local investment.

  OR

• The RIF grant award enables you to purchase high-quality RIF programs at just half the cost. For example, RIF books cost $4/book but with the matching funds, you’ll be able to obtain the books at just $2/book.

• Order all books from RIF’s online Bookstore where you can select from thousands of high-quality, diverse titles that children can see themselves in as well as books that provide a window into the world around them.
• Distribute the books to children during at least 1 book celebration event during the program period.
• Children must be able to choose the book(s) they take home and keep.
• Engage families in the program. Downloadable take-home letters and other resources to engage families can be found at https://www.rif.org/literacy-network/our-solutions/books-ownership/program-implementation/plan-your-book-celebration.

• Incorporate read-alouds from the collection books (set of 15 read-aloud titles) and extension activities from the facilitator’s guide into your program throughout the grant period.
• Engage families by utilizing the family resources found within the facilitator's guide and aligned to support each read-aloud title.
• Order all student take-home books from RIF’s online Bookstore where you can select from thousands of high-quality, diverse titles that children can see themselves in as well as books that provide a window into the world around them.
• Distribute the books (6 per student) to children during at least 1 book celebration event during the program period.

• Students must have access to a school or home desktop or laptop to access the digital library.
• Fully activate the subscription for both an account administrator (such as a media specialist, reading specialist, classroom teacher, etc. – that act as the administrator for all users) and educator (will support and enable student access and use of Skybrary assigned to the classroom).
• Roster students within the service and ensure they have access to their login information for use in class and at home; ensure families are aware of the service for at-home use.
• Encourage and monitor the use of the service throughout the grant period.

• Remit payment to RIF for your organization’s local match (50%) amount of the grant award by the set deadline.
• Remit signed award letter and required administrative documents to RIF by the set deadline.
• Complete all program activities by March 31, 2025.
• Submit an online program activity report to RIF by April 25, 2025.

Books for Ownership

The matching grant is provided in the form of a book award, redeemable online in RIF’s Bookstore. Each applicant is required to submit a grant application for the number of books requested to implement RIF’s Books for Ownership program, priced at $4 per book. Please note, the RIF grant award only covers the costs of the books through RIF’s Bookstore and cannot be used for any supplemental purposes/supplies.

For example, if you plan to serve 100 children in your community providing them with one book each, your grant request would be calculated as 100 children x 1 book x $4 = $400. RIF would award you a $200 book award and the other $200 would be matched with your organization’s local funds. RIF funds and local funds are combined for a final book award allocation to make your book selections in RIF’s online Bookstore.

Read for Success

The matching grant is provided in the form of a Read for Success program to serve 25 students. Each individual program costs $1,150 and supports a classroom of up to 25 students.

For example, if you plan to serve 100 children in your community with Read for Success, your minimum grant request would be calculated as 4 Read for Success programs x $1,150 = $4600. RIF would award you a $2,300 program award and the other $2,300 would be matched from your organization’s local funds. RIF funds and local funds are combined for a final program award to cover the Read for Success program costs.

Skybrary

The matching grant is provided in the form of a Skybrary classroom subscription. Each individual subscription costs $179 and supports a classroom of up to 35 students.

For example, if you plan to serve 100 children in your community with Skybrary, your minimum grant request would be calculated as 3 Skybrary subscriptions for 105 students (cannot request a partial subscription) x $179.00 = $537. RIF would award you a $268.50 program award and the other $268.50 would be matched with your organization’s local funds. RIF funds and local funds are combined for a final program award to cover the Skybrary subscriptions.

• RIF’s grant awards cover RIF program costs for print and digital books and related supplemental program resources as described above (rather than cash awards).
• All student books must be ordered on RIF’s online Bookstore, if applicable to the program (Skybrary does not offer any physical books).
• RIF's matching grant program requires local matching funds equal to the amount requested from RIF (funding can be derived from a variety of sources including school budget, PTA, local businesses, local, state, and federal funding like Title I dollars, American Rescue Plan COVID Relief Funds, etc.).
• Each dollar requested from RIF must be monetarily matched by the grantee. The entire dollar amount (local match plus RIF grant award) will be converted into a RIF program award.
• In-kind donations are not accepted for the required local matching funds.
• Grantees will be invoiced for the local matching funds and payment for the match must be sent directly to RIF.
• Once funds are received, the grantee payment in combination with RIF’s matching grant will be used to purchase the RIF program.
• While there is no limit to the amount grantees can request in their grant application, RIF reserves the right to award a lower level than what was requested upon review of all grant applications. RIF anticipates that awards will average between $5,000-$15,000.
• RIF may not be able to make awards to all applicants.
• Grantees are required to submit detailed activity reports at the end of the implementation period. RIF may request additional information at any point.

• Project Narrative: Clear, detailed description of how the applicant plans to implement the requested program(s), why it is the best solution for their service population, and how their students will benefit from the program.
• Implementation and Engagement Strategy: Clear plan to engage children from under-resourced communities and their families. Describe how the books and literacy resources will be utilized to drive engagement.
• Demonstrated Need: Applicant must demonstrate the need of its intended service population, clearly articulating who will be the recipients of the program. Need indicators that applicants might choose to include are Title I school status, percentage of children receiving free and reduced-price lunch, reading scores, community poverty thresholds, etc.
• Experience in Children’s Literacy: Demonstrated history of implementing literacy programming as well as well-defined long-term goals for the organization including sustainability post-grant.
• Matching Funds: Applications must detail the source of the local matching funds. Sources could potentially include local funding partners or plans for community outreach and fundraising efforts to secure the required matching funds.