Our Partners | Better World Books Blog

Funds Raised for Global Literacy:

$4,856,147.00

Books Saved From Landfills:

13,498,011

We found a new way to support our Non-Profit Literacy Partners

Posted by admin on 06.16.2009 at 1:24 pm

nplp-all

Great news! As you probably already know, promoting literacy has always been woven into the fabric of our business. Now we’re delighted to announce we’ve given an ownership stake to our non-profit literacy partners. Yup…we’ve granted Incentive Stock Options to these partners - as far as we know, a first for social enterprise.

The purpose of the plan, put together with the help of our primary investor, Good Capital, is to ensure that our literacy partners can have a stake in and share in our financial success.

We’ve put aside roughly 5% of the company for use in stock option grants to an initial group of five literacy partners (with potential to add others in the future): Books for Africa, Invisible Children, Room To Read, WorldFund and the National Center for Family Literacy.

One of our fearless leaders Xavier Helgesen puts it best: “We created Better World Books to show that it is possible to do good while at the same time run a successful company. Our literacy partners are essential to our mission, and we want them to flourish. Today’s announcement ensures that as our company grows, our partners will too.”

Check out the press release to get all the details. Or read more about it at Change.org.

2 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, better world books, books for africa, Good Capital, Incentive Stock Options, invisible children, National Center for Family Literacy, room to read, Social Enterprise, social entrepreneurship, worldfund, Xavier Helgesen

Our Partners: Ellen Cherry & Invisible Children

Posted by Chip on 06.08.2009 at 9:48 am

ellencherry One of my favorite things about working for Better World Books is the amazing people I get to meet from across the country who share Better World Books’ vision to keep books out of landfills and support global literacy.

Last month, I had the privilege of meeting Kristin Putchinski of the Baltimore based band ellen cherry. I met Kristin while she was traveling through Atlanta following a performance at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA.

The singer-songwriter is one of many musicians using their talent to support and spread awareness of the noble efforts of Invisible Children to end the war in Northern Uganda. I was happy to discover Kristin was already a fan of Better World Books and was eager to spread the word of how students can support Invisible Children through the Book Drives for Better Lives program at her upcoming benefit concert. Better World Books’ partnership with Invisible Children has brought in over 1.7 million books to generate unrestricted funding for Invisible Children in what is being called the largest book drive in history.

1 Comment » | Tagged Our Partners, Baltimore Bands, better world books, Book Drives for Better Lives, chip boyes, Eddie's Attic, ellen cherry, indie bands baltimore, Kristin Putchinski

Great American Book Drive this weekend in Brooklyn

Posted by Dana on 05.14.2009 at 11:47 am

gabd Brooklyn Public Library and Better World Books host the Great American Book Drive on the Plaza at Central Library on Saturday, May 16th from 10AM-3PM.

An untold number of used books rest on shelves, under beds and stacked in offices across the country. The Great American Book Drive is a book-by-book, click-by-click campaign to turn these books into dollars to support Brooklyn Public Library. At last year’s event, over 15,000 books were donated.

Bring your books to Central Library from 10-3 on Saturday, May 16th. In addition to the Book Drive, enjoy the music of the Library’s own Lost in the Stacks from 10-12, and crafts for kids throughout the day. In addition, the library will also revive its popular book sale with all books priced at $1.

For additional information, check out The Abbeville Manual of Style blog post about the event!

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners, Abbeville Manual of Style, Brooklyn Public Library, great american book drive, Lost in the Stacks

We can’t thank you enough!

Posted by Dana on 05.07.2009 at 12:31 pm

It is because of you — all of you — our amazing customers, book drive organizers, librarians, fans and friends that we were voted THE MOST PROMISING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR by Business Week.

We are so proud of what your support has been able to do for our Non-Profit partners. So far we have:

Raised over $6 million for Literacy
$3.5 million for over 80 literacy and education nonprofits

$2.5 million for libraries and thrift stores nationwide
Contributed more than $1.3 million to college service clubs who have run book drives
Directly sent more than 1.3 million books to Books for Africa, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Feed the Children
Collected over 20 million books through active book drives at over 1,800 colleges and universities and collections from over 1,500 libraries

With your help, Books for Africa, Invisible Children, Worldfund, Room to Read and the National Center for Family Literacy are doing amazing things to increase literacy around the world!

Thanks! And please keep spreading the word!

2 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, book drive, books for africa, business week, BusinessWeek, invisible children, National Center for Family Literacy, room to read, social entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, Winner, worldfund

Better World Books 6,400 Book Donation to NCFL

Posted by Jack on 01.12.2009 at 4:00 pm

From the NCFL blog:

On Wednesday, Emily Kirkpatrick, Meg Ivey and I headed up to snowy Detroit for a book giveaway from Better World Books. Better World Books donated 6,400 books to three family literacy programs in Southwest Detroit, and NCFL was on hand for the donation!

bwb-delivery-blog

We met up with Rudy and Phil from BWB at Roberto Clemente Learning Academy, one of the three sites to receive books. They had driven up from South Bend, Indiana, with 8 huge pallets of books.

rudy-and-phil-from-bwb-blog

4 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners

Better World Books Raises $5 Million!

Posted by Jack on 01.01.2009 at 9:01 am

A wise man once told me “people dramatically overestimate what they can accomplish in a day, and dramatically underestimate what they can accomplish in 5 years.”

When this crazy ride started, in 2003, no one knew what they would be able to accomplish. They often had to scan hundreds of books in given days (there’s the overestimation bit), but no one could have imagined that 5 years down the road Better World Books would have raised $5.2 million for global literacy.

It’s taken hard work, it’s taken commitment, and it’s taken time, the payoff couldn’t be any sweeter. What started as an effort between friends to raise money for a local community center transformed into something bigger than anyone could imagine. Proceeds from every book you buy go towards making that number even bigger and more effective, in turn getting money and books to those who need it.

But this is no time to rest on our laurels. No, this is the moment in which we make our commitment again (think of it like restating your marriage vows). $5 million is great, $5 million exceeded dreams, but until illiteracy is conquered no amount is enough to give up the quest. I know, now you’re thinking “Jack, that’s a pretty tall order. How will you take on such a challenge? Do you really think Better World Books, even with its partners can combat illiteracy when it’s so pervasive?”

Do I really think that we can do it?

Give us 5 years, I think you’ll be surprised what you find…

4 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners

Getting Books to (Walk) Sudan

Posted by Yanna on 12.11.2008 at 12:45 pm

[To see previous efforts with Walk Sudan and getting books to Africa, you can look here, here and here and if you feel like reading a newspaper version, look here].

Many of us have heard the plight of the 27,000 “lost boys” of Sudan, their perilous 1,000 mile walk left more than half dead, and the rest came home to a country devastated by war, bare of essentials like clean water and schools. Matt Hoffman, an alumni Phi Theta Kappa member from Illinois Central College, was touched by these horrific stories and moved to immediate action. Matt reflects, “A good friend of mine, Sean Fahey from Endless Eye, informed me that his 501(c)3 had committed to raising funds to shoot a documentary film to raise awareness about the situation in Southern Sudan.” Sean’s organization has been working with Justin Machien Luoi, a Lost Boy, to build a library, a school, and provide clean water for Panyijiar County, Southern Sudan. Matt wanted to know how Upsilon Mu, Illinois Central College’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, could get involved. They talked for a few hours that night and decided to design a “walk event” in Peoria, Illinois. That is how WalkSUDAN was born.

WalkSUDAN is a project intended to raise awareness and funds to Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, africa, books for africa, endless eye, Illinois, pacodes, peoria, sudan, walk sudan

Welcome Invisible Children!

Posted by admin on 12.04.2008 at 6:44 pm

Check out the following video and info on our newest partner, Invisible Children. The last video I saw from them caused tears in 150+ employees in the Green House, so you know they can make an awesome video. Story below…

Invisible Children has linked up their amazing “Schools for Schools” program with Better World Books, and the results are sure to be spectacular. Haven’t heard about IC? Well, they’re an amazing group of folks in SoCal who have created a documentary and mobilized a nation’s worth of students to help partner schools in Uganda. Why Uganda? Read more…

6 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, africa, book drives, invisible children, schools for schools, uganda

World AIDS Day

Posted by Jack on 12.01.2008 at 1:42 pm

From the offical website: The 1st of December, World AIDS Day, is the day when individuals and organisations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic. 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Whilst we have come a long ways since 1988, there is still much more to be done.

1 Comment » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, books for africa, literacy, World AIDS Day

Ready Set WriMo

Posted by Geoff on 10.31.2008 at 2:50 pm

Today (Halloween) is actually the eve of National Novel Writing Month (more affectionately known as NaNoWriMo). What is national NaNoWriMo you ask? Good question. NaNoWriMo is 100,000+ people around the world, each committing to write a 50,000 word novel in November. It’s like a support group for folks that don’t want to carry out their dream of writing a novel - with a crazy deadline.