ABOUT US
MissionCouncil
Mission of the Foundation
The Universal Reading Foundation is a non-profit organization that has been working since 2018 to promote reading as a way to eliminate exclusion – because non-reading is a social problem.
POLAND CURRENTLY READS FAR TOO LITTLE
(A dozen or so years ago, the readership rate did not drop below 50%)
We want to change that. We want this level to grow every year.
Our dream is for every Polish child to realize their full potential and have equal educational chances. Contact with books on a daily-basis has a huge impact on this.
Reading is a way to increase the life chances of young people in Poland. Regular contact with books has a positive impact on the language, emotional and social development of the children. It ensures school readiness, reduces aggressive tendencies and enables the harmonious personality development. By supporting reading, we build the foundations for the life success of individual children, and we also support the creation of a conscious, informed, civic society.
History
The Universal Reading Foundation was created thanks to the willingness of competing publishers to work together. We bring together various companies and our activities are supported by Donors of the Foundation.
At its beginning the Universal Reading Foundation started the Book on Prescription. Prescription for Success. programme, launched in 2019. We invited Barry Zuckerman, the first pediatrician in the world, who more than 30 years ago started prescribing reading like vitamins as a preventive health element practised in doctors' offices. In 2020, on the very first day when schools in Poland were closed during the pandemic, the Foundation started the #NowTimeToRead campaign urging parents to get their children away from screens and encourage to read. In 2021 we published the first Polish guide to the universalisation of reading, The Superpower of Books and The Superpower of Books in Perschool, for experts. Since the first day of the outbreak of war in Ukraine, we have been running the #BooksGiveRefuge campaign to provide refugee children and all those who need help with books, but also support Ukrainian publishers. In June 2022 the new project #ReadingRules has been launched, in cooperation with the Union of the Polish Metropolises, and the same year in December we were ran our first Christmas fundraising campaign #ReleaseTheSuperpowerofKindness. One of the Foundation's best-known projects is, running since 2023, the nationwide #ReadingDad campaign, aimed at men, who statistically read less than women. We encourage them to read to themselves and their children. In 2023, the Universal Reading Foundation became a member of the EURead network, which brings together dozens of European organisations working on reading promotion. In 2024 we were recognized by the U.S. Library of Congress and became the Literacy Award Successful Practices Honoree.
The Foundation invites all people interested in raising the level of reading in Poland to cooperate.
Information
In 2019, the Universal Reading Foundation received the Zwyrtala Award for the promotion of reading at the Rabka International Festival of Children's Literature. A year later, it came in third place in the 2020 Book of the Year poll in the ‘event’ category, where it was also awarded the top prize in the same category in 2022. At that time, the URF was also nominated for its dissemination of reading in the Polish Section of IBBY competition and in the Polish plebiscite ‘Lokomotywa’. The charity book ‘The world is beautiful. A book against war' published by the URF with the collaboration of nearly 60 authors and illustrators has won the main prize in the 21st edition of the ‘Child Friendly World’ competition. In 2023, the Foundation received a positive review after a due diligence review carried out by the crowdfunding platform Global Giving. In 2024 the Universal Reading Foundation has won the Library of Congress Literacy Award for Successful Practices. due diligence conducted by the crowdfunding platform Global Giving.