By helping educators learn high-impact instructional strategies and nurturing dynamic professional learning communities, CLI builds lasting capacity in teachers and principals over time.

Walk into a CLI classroom and you immediately know it's a place to learn and grow. It's a place you wish every child had the opportunity to be. Your investment will enable CLI and its partners to normalize anti-racist, culturally sustaining early literacy instruction and catalyze generational impact at the onset of every Black and Latinx child's literacy journey.

Donate By Check

CLI welcomes your gift. Please make your check payable to “Children’s Literacy Initiative” and mail to:

Children’s Literacy Initiative
990 Spring Garden St., Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19123

Employer Matching Gifts

Many employers match charitable contributions made by current or former employees and their spouses. If your company is eligible, please contact your HR office.

Donate Stocks and Securities

Contact us for transmittal instructions if you wish to make a gift to CLI in the form of appreciated securities—publicly traded stocks, bonds and mutual fund shares.

Donate via Donor-Advised Fund

Click here to recommend a grant from your donor-advised fund (DAF) to support Children's Literacy Initiative.

Foundation & Corporate Giving

For more information, please contact Naimah Bilal at nbilal@cli.org.

Leave a Legacy

By choosing to support CLI through your bequests and estate plans, you are leaving a legacy that reflects your life - one that will transform future generations of powerful readers, writers and thinkers.

For over 30 years, we have built on this foundation, continuing to grow and improve our methodologies to transform and strengthen classrooms, build teacher knowledge and capacity, and improve student literacy outcomes. Supporters can trust that their investments are valued and used to further the CLI mission, to transform early literacy.

Children’s Literacy Initiative’s sound fiscal practices and commitment to accountability and transparency have continued to earn it a Gold Participant rating from GuideStar, the world’s largest source of information on non-profit organizations.

Additionally, CLI has maintained its 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. A 4-star rating is given to organizations that score a 90 or above in Charity Navigator’s review and is considered “Exceptional.” It demonstrates an organization’s strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency.

With only 17% of expenditures going to administration and fundraising costs, in 2021-22 83% of all expenses were dedicated solely to CLI programming. In turn, unrestricted philanthropic funding has enabled CLI to invest in organizational capacity, technology, and innovation--all critical to its sustainability and strategic growth.

You can also view our most recent Form 990, and review our latest audit.

Federal Tax ID# 23-2515768

Inspired by what you've seen and want to support CLI? You can contact a member of our Development Team to learn more about how your philanthropic investment can advance our literacy mission. 

Learning to read is a strong predictor of a student’s future academic achievement. Our goal is to close the literacy achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers. Stay informed with the work we are doing in communities nationwide.

Join a movement of supporters and advocates for reading and literacy outcomes, and drive equity and racial justice in education