Created in 2009 and hosted by the Fondation de France, the Crédit Mutuel Foundation for Reading supports projects and organizations that help expand access to reading in the French language as a tool for cultural, economic and social inclusion in mainland France, the French Caribbean and French Guiana.

The Crédit Mutuel Foundation places reading at the heart of community-based solidarity. To this end, it supports on-the-ground initiatives for a wide range of audiences, often those with limited access to reading, and works in partnership with Crédit Mutuel’s 18 regional federations across France.

The supported projects aim to share reading and the pleasure of reading with as many people as possible; raise awareness of reading from an early age; and prevent and combat illiteracy, whether through targeted outreach to specific groups, participation in literary awards, or events centered on books and reading.

Four areas of action:

• Reading for early childhood
• Reading from preschool through high school
• Preventing and combating illiteracy
• Literary Awards & Events

Innovation in Reading Award

One of the Crédit Mutuel Foundation for Reading’s flagship initiatives, the Innovation in Reading Award, created in 2022 as part of the French President’s national reading plan, recognizes nonprofit projects that develop original approaches to promoting access to reading.

The goal of the Innovation in Reading Award is to encourage innovative initiatives, often led by local organizations, that reinvent ways of engaging with books and reaching audiences with limited access to reading.

In 2026, the third Innovation in Reading Award will focus on promoting the integration of newly arrived non-native speakers, as well as those who are not newly arrived, into French society through reading mediation initiatives.