Comicvine turned us on to the charity Reading With Pictures, a relatively new charity involved in using comic books in an academic sense.  From their website:

Reading With Pictures is a nonprofit organization that advocates the use of comics in the classroom to promote literacy and improve educational outcomes for all students. We work with academics to cultivate groundbreaking research into the proper role of comics in education. We collaborate with cartoonists to produce exceptional graphic novel content for scholastic use. Most importantly, we partner with educators to develop a system of best practices for integrating comics into their curriculum. At Reading With Pictures, we get comics into schools and get schools into comics.

The charity was founded in 2009 by cartoonist Josh Elder and comprises of 8 board members and currently 60 volunteers.  Current projects include working with universities on a study of the use of comic books in education, an interactive database of research papers on the subject, consulting with schools, helping to design courses in comic stories, helping with a speakers bureau and putting together a list of graphic novel reviews based on appropriate age level.

There are numerous ways to get involved now.  From their website.

-We are looking for talented web designers to help us create a new website!

-We are currently preparing our 501(c)(3) paperwork to become a tax-exempt non-profit, and we are seeking attorneys or accountants who have experience preparing Form 1023.

-We plan to create a clearinghouse for comic-based curriculum, and we will soon be looking for someone with experience building and maintaining databases.

-We are putting together graphic novel starter kits for school libraries, and we are looking for publishers who are interested in donating books.

-We have a number of fundraising plans in place, including an online art auction in late 2009 and the creation of a benefit anthology in early 2010. If you would like to contribute original artwork for the auction or a short comic for the benefit book, please read our press release or contact us for more information!

-Reading With Pictures does accept donations. If you are interested in contributing seed money to help our organization obtain tax-exempt status and begin our projects, please contact us directly. Donations will be retroactively tax-exempt once we have received 501(c)(3) status.

Even with a pretty sparse website you can become a fan of the organization on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.