1. Support families. Parents have the greatest love and concern for their own children and are the ones most likely to read to their children from birth through third grade. Our message will be directed primarily to them. We pursue leveraged ways to provide parents with the information and resources they need to raise a reader. Activities that reach the most parents with the fewest dollars will have priority.

2. Involve broadly. We will encourage everyone - parents, schools, community members, and community groups - to recognize their important role in helping young readers. We will facilitate partnerships within the community that support families, preschools, and our member school districts. Rather than a few elegant and gala events put on by foundation staff, we will find multiple pathways involving networks of people.

3. Operate lean. We are not a fund-raising organization. We will staff and maintain overhead at the level of the dues from our member school districts. Rather than spending half of our time fund raising, we will spend almost all of our time facilitating the donations and efforts of others in hundreds of projects. We will not duplicate, judge, or compete with services already being provided by schools, such as curriculum materials & reading programs.

4. Stay focused. We will support only events that specifically address our narrow mission - that of parents, family members, and others reading to children every day, and of schools teaching to high standards. We will check our effectiveness by asking ourselves, "Where today can parents hear the message to read with their children?" We will measure our success by how many parents read to their children and by how many third-graders read at grade level.