About us
Education can change the direction of a life.
And in far too many households, the only thing standing in the way is the price of the next book.
Who we are
A small foundation with a narrow job.
ReadoBook is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation. We volunteer to provide free books and electronic devices to children whose families cannot afford them, so that the education those children are entitled to is actually usable.
The foundation started in Pune in 2020. It was formed around one observation: in thousands of households, the obstacle is not school fees or willingness — it is a set of textbooks in August, a workbook in October, and now a device.
We are deliberately narrow. We do not run schools or claim to fix education. We remove specific, expensive obstacles, one child at a time.
- Founded
- 9 January 2020, Pune
- Registration
- CIN U85300PN2020NPL188994
- Structure
- Company limited by guarantee, non-government, not-for-profit
Our mission
To remove the cost of learning from between a child and their education.
Books, study material, delivery and devices — given free, to the children who would otherwise go without them.
Our vision
To work for the children of our society who are furthest from a classroom, and to help them get a good education by putting books in their hands, free of cost.
पढ़ेगा इंडिया तभी तो बढ़ेगा इंडिया
What we believe
Four things we will not compromise on.
A book is not a gift
It is equipment. A child without the textbook is not behind because they are slow; they are behind because they were not given the thing the lesson assumes they have.
Go to the child
Services that wait to be visited are used by the families who can afford the trip. We deliver, because that is the difference between a service existing and a service working.
Say what we actually did
We publish numbers we can trace and stories people agreed to tell. Where we have nothing yet, we say so. A charity that inflates is a charity you cannot check.
Dignity is not optional
The children we work with are not case studies. We do not photograph a child to make an adult feel something, and we do not describe anyone by what they lack.
Our journey
How the work grew.
- 012020
The foundation is formed
Registered in Pune in January 2020 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, with the aim of getting books to children who were going without them.
- 022020–21
Books, and then screens
When schooling moved online, the gap widened for households with one phone or none. Device donation and repair became part of the work, alongside books.
- 032021–22
Doorstep delivery and an online library
Delivery to the child's home, and an online catalogue so a request could be made from a phone rather than a bus ride.
- 04Today
The same four things, done better
Books, delivery, devices and the library — with records the foundation can stand behind and publish.
The people
Who runs ReadoBook.
A company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act, 2013, governed by its board of directors.
The names of the foundation's directors are on the public register maintained by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, searchable by the CIN above. We have chosen not to publish names and photographs here until each person has agreed to it — being on a public register and being on a website are not the same thing.
See our registration detailsSupport our mission.
A donation, a box of books, a device you no longer use, or an afternoon of your time.