May 1, 2014  |   

READ Global, a nonprofit founded by Myths and Mountains, a U.S.-based, adventure-travel company, which stands for rural education and development, has built 73 community library and resource centers and provided seed money for more than 100 small for-profit businesses in villages in Nepal, India and Bhutan since 1991. Volunteers often provide initial funding, but both the centers and their partner businesses that help sustain the centers financially are owned and operated by the local community, a model designed to generate jobs and encourage empowerment. —Tanya Mohn