Secretos para Contar

What Secretos para Contar does

Fundación Secretos para Contar is a nonprofit foundation founded in 2004 and headquartered in Medellín, Colombia, dedicated to improving literacy and education in rural Colombian communities. The foundation designs, produces, and freely distributes full-color book collections tailored to rural family life — covering agriculture, nature, health, culture, and storytelling — and has published nine such collections through 2024, with cumulative distribution exceeding 5 million materials to approximately 519,000 families across all 32 Colombian departments. Its core operational model is community-led: field promoters travel by foot, horse, boat, and small aircraft to deliver books directly to rural homes and schools, supported by municipal education departments and an embedded network of rural teachers; this is complemented by follow-up pedagogical workshops aligned with the Escuela Nueva active-learning methodology.

The foundation's product surface spans printed books (with ISBNs available commercially from Collection 5 onward through Colombian bookstore chains including Lerner, Panamericana, and 9¾), proprietary teacher guides (Guías de talleres, Reconocer series), didactic materials (Máquina de cuentos, Matemáquina, Animalario ABC), and a growing digital layer — including the Secretos en Red program, a Moodle-based online courses platform, an online educational games portal, radio programs/podcasts, and pedagogical videos. It institutionalizes its rural education work through the ERA Alliance (founded 2017) alongside Gobernación de Antioquia, Comfama, Proantioquia, Comité de Cafeteros, and Fundación Fraternidad Medellín.

The organization is funded primarily through diversified corporate and institutional donations — including Bancolombia, Nutresa, Grupo Argos, SURA, ISA, EPM, Éxito, McKinsey, and Banco de Bogotá — supplemented by grants from entities such as Gobernación de Antioquia and MinCultura, and minor commercial revenue from bookstore sales (with a stated pledge that a portion of each sale benefits a rural family with a collection). Impact metrics, measured in partnership with Universidad de Antioquia (2006), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2010), and Invamer (2014, 2017), include 75% of recipients improving reading skills, 63% developing a taste for reading, and 95% of classroom stories read by teachers originating from foundation books.

Name

Secretos para Contar

Legal name

FUNDACIÓN SECRETOS PARA CONTAR

Website

https://secretosparacontar.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Fundación Secretos para Contar is a Medellín-based nonprofit foundation that designs, publishes, and freely distributes culturally tailored book collections to rural Colombian families and trains rural teachers, having reached 519,000 families across all 32 Colombian departments through community-led field programs since 2004.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Publishing and Rural Literacy Services

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

Keywords

• Children's book publishing
• Rural education programs
• Literacy promotion services
• Educational publishing foundation
• Reading promotion workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Medellín

HQ country

Colombia

HQ region

Latin America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Funded Programs (Donations and Grants): As a nonprofit foundation, Secretos para Contar is primarily funded through donations from corporate sponsors, institutional partners, and individual contributors. The organization receives support from dozens of companies (Bancolombia, Nutresa, Grupo Argos, SURA, Comfama, etc.) and government entities (Gobernación de Antioquia, MinCultura) who fund the production and distribution of books to rural families. Additionally, individuals can donate through the website, with suggested amounts of COP 20,000, 50,000, or 100,000.
2. Sales of Books and Materials: The foundation sells books and educational materials commercially through bookstores across Colombia (Librería Lerner, Panamericana, 9¾, Al pie de la letra, Tragaluz, Exlibris, and others), as well as through the organization's purchase page. Materials available for sale include books from Collection 5 onward (e.g., Cuentos para desenredar enredos, Del campo a la mesa, La finca viva) and didactic materials (Matemáquina, Animalario ABC, Máquina de cuentos).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Fundación Secretos para Contar is a nonprofit foundation that designs, publishes, and freely distributes curated book collections and pedagogical materials to rural Colombian families, complemented by teacher guides, digital learning platforms, and didactic tools. Its core deliverable is a series of nine full-color family library collections developed through rigorous editorial processes and aligned with active pedagogy methodologies, reaching rural homes, schools, and teachers across Colombia.

Product overview

Secretos para Contar is an educational foundation offering a multi-product portfolio centered on literacy and rural education in Colombia. The core offering consists of printed book collections (nine collections published since 2004, with ISBNs) distributed free to rural families, complemented by teacher guide series (Guías de talleres and Reconocer series). Digital products include an online games platform (juegos.secretosparacontar.org), an online courses platform (cursos.secretosparacontar.org built on Moodle), audio content (radio programs and podcasts), and pedagogical videos. Three main programs drive the work: Reading Promotion (direct family engagement through workshops), ERA Alliance (rural education strengthening based on Escuela Nueva methodology), and Secretos en Red (digital content delivery to teachers). Additional didactic materials include the Máquina de cuentos story-telling game, Matemáquina mathematics tool, and Animalario ABC flashcards. Materials are available for purchase from collection 5 onward through Colombian bookstores.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Family Library Collections (Collections 1–9) Multi-volume curated book collections designed specifically for rural Colombian families, covering topics relevant to rural life such as culture, nature, health, food, storytelling, and personal development. Distributed free of charge to rural homes and schools; available commercially from Collection 5 onward through Colombian bookstores.
• Teacher Guides (Guías para maestros) Structured pedagogical guides including Guías de talleres 1–7 and the Reconocer series, with learning objectives, pre-knowledge questions, activities, and complementary data, designed for teachers to facilitate learning using the foundation's books.
• Online Games Platform (Juegos en línea) Interactive educational games portal (juegos.secretosparacontar.org) offering puzzles, memory games, logic exercises, spatial reasoning, perception, attention, and numerical activities for children.
• Online Courses Platform Moodle-based online courses platform (cursos.secretosparacontar.org) providing teacher training and professional development courses.
• Radio Programs and Podcasts Audio content including storytelling and poetry readings available for educational use in rural communities.
• Pedagogical Videos Video materials supporting educational content and reading promotion activities for rural teachers and families.
• Máquina de cuentos (Storytelling Box) Wooden box containing dice that invite story creation, developing narrative capacity, improvisation, imagination, and vocabulary expansion in children.
• Matemáquina (Mathematics Tool) Tactile learning material for children to learn numbers 1–10 and perform basic mathematical calculations through physical manipulation.
• Animalario ABC (Flashcards) Flashcards designed to enrich vocabulary, prepare children for reading and writing, and spark curiosity about discovering the world through animals.
• Reading Promotion Program (Programa Promoción de Lectura) Invitation to read, play with words, and love knowledge through workshops, playful strategies, and books created especially for rural families, delivered through a three-phase community engagement model.
• ERA Alliance (Alianza ERA) Multi-stakeholder alliance program to strengthen rural education based on the Escuela Nueva Caldas experience, operating in Southwest, Urabá, and Bajo Cauca Antioqueño regions.
• Secretos en Red (Digital Teacher Program) Digital program that delivers teachers digital materials (including online courses and educational games) to enrich and strengthen work with books and guides inside and outside the classroom.

Quantifiable outcome

• 75% of recipients have improved their reading skills
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Gobernación de AntioquiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Governor's Office of Antioquia serves as the guiding authority for educational policy in the department and is a founding member of the ERA Alliance. It provides institutional support and coordination for rural education programs across Antioquia's 125 municipalities.
• ComfamacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerComfama (Caja de Compensación Familiar de Antioquia) is a founding member of the ERA Alliance and a long-term supporter of the foundation's reading promotion and rural education programs.
• Fundación Fraternidad MedellíncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA founding member of the ERA Alliance, contributing to rural education development initiatives in Antioquia.
• Comité Departamental de Cafeteros de AntioquiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding member of the ERA Alliance, supporting rural education for coffee-farming communities in Antioquia.
• ProantioquiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA founding member of the ERA Alliance, providing strategic support for rural education transformation in Antioquia.
• MinCulturacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerColombia's Ministry of Culture partnered with the foundation to include books in the National Public Library Network (Red Nacional de Bibliotecas Públicas), starting in 2012.
• Universidad EAFITmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with the foundation to conduct a qualitative impact measurement in 2023, discovering that the books have contributed to improving students' cognitive abilities over the years. Also awarded the Inspiradores EAFIT 2025 prize to the foundation.
• Universidad de AntioquiamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with the foundation for its first impact measurement in 2006 to assess how the first collection was received by rural families.
• Universidad Nacional de ColombiamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConducted the third impact measurement for the foundation in 2010, which found that 75% of recipients improved their reading skills.
• Comité de CafeteroscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoffee Growers Committee of Antioquia, a founding member of the ERA Alliance, providing support for rural education in coffee-producing regions.
• InvamerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConducted impact measurements for the foundation in 2014 and 2017 to assess the reach and effectiveness of its reading promotion programs.
• Colegio Mayor de AntioquiaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational institution partner supporting the foundation's programs.
• Universidad CESminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity partner supporting the foundation's educational initiatives.
• Pratham InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevyani Pershad, Director of Programs at Pratham International, visited the foundation. Pratham is one of India's most important educational organizations, impacting millions of children and youth annually through innovative learning initiatives.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Fundación Luker: Colombian foundation operating broader rural-education and socio-economic programs in coffee-growing regions. Overlaps with Secretos para Contar's rural Antioquia focus but addresses a wider portfolio of education and development themes.
• Fundación Nutresa: Major corporate foundation funding rural education and nutrition in Colombia. Comparable as a funder/partner operating in the same rural-education space but with broader thematic scope and corporate parent.

Regional players

• Comfama: Antioquia-based family-compensation fund running complementary education, culture, and well-being programs across the same region. A founding ERA Alliance member; serves overlapping rural teacher and family populations.
• Biblioteca Pública Piloto de Medellín para América Latina: Medellín-based public library that hosts the Cosmoteca, a Secretos para Contar resource. Operates in the same regional literacy-promotion space but with a broader public-library mission rather than rural book distribution.

Emerging players

• Worldreader: Global nonprofit delivering digital books to underserved communities. Represents a technology-driven evolution of the same literacy-promotion thesis that Secretos para Contar pursues via printed books.

Direct peers

• Room to Read: Global nonprofit that publishes local-language children's books and supports literacy instruction. Closely comparable product strategy (culturally relevant book publishing for underserved children) and parallel impact-measurement rigor.
• Pratham: India's largest education NGO running large-scale literacy and learning programs in low-income communities. Already engaging with Secretos para Contar (Director of Programs visited), making it a natural operational and scale peer.
• Fundación Fraternidad Medellín: Founding member of the ERA Alliance alongside Secretos para Contar, focused on rural education and social development in Antioquia. Operates complementary programs in the same geography and constituency.
• Fundación Leer: Argentina-based foundation promoting literacy and reading habits among children and youth. Shares the same model of designing culturally relevant reading materials and conducting reading promotion programs in underserved communities.
• Fundación Escuela Nueva: Colombia-based foundation that pioneered the active, self-paced Escuela Nueva model underpinning Secretos para Contar's pedagogical approach. Both target rural education improvement and align methods, making them the closest direct peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Secretoscontar
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/fundasecretos
• Facebookfacebook.com/secretosparacontar
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fundacionsecretosparacontar
• Instagraminstagram.com/secretosparacontar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Secretos para Contar