Worldfund and your book giving/buying impact

Posted by John on 02.15.2010 at 11:48 am

Erin Sawaya and Michelle Viegas of Worldfund recently paid a visit to Better World Books’ distribution center where they provided us an update on their progress improving literacy in Latin America. Better World Books book donors and readers have helped raise over $150,000 for Worldfund since they became a literacy partner in 2007.

Worldfund’s mission is to raise the quality and relevance of education in Latin America—the key to transforming lives and breaking the cycle of poverty. They do this through scholarship funding and through teacher and principal training programs. There is an excellent introductory video about Worldfund on their website.

Photo: Michelle Viegas, Director of Programs & Strategic Outreach, and Erin Sawaya, Vice President of Development and Communications, speak to Better World Books employees.

Presentations from our partners always have loads of great information, but there’s usually a key fact or two that jump out for me. In this case it was that $600 can provide a scholarship to a child for a full year (in case you’re interested here’s a link to the donations page). Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners, latin america, literacy, Starfish School, worldfund

Introducing: Worldfund!

Posted by admin on 10.09.2006 at 2:24 pm

As you may already know, Better World Books joined forces with a great new literacy partner over the summer. The World Education and Development Fund (a.k.a. “Worldfund”) is a young non-profit organization dedicated to reducing poverty in Latin America by funding high-quality education for impoverished children. Visit their website www.worldfund.org to learn more about the programs they support in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela .

Worldfund’s mission is essential, as fewer than 30% of students in Latin America complete secondary school. The absence of an educated workforce is a critical factor stunting economic development and discouraging investment in Latin America . However, Worldfund is already making an impressive impact – in just three short years, they have already raised over $2 million to fund school networks that support more than 30,000 children across Latin America .

If you choose Worldfund as your partner this semester, here’s the impact your qualifying books can make:

500 books: Fund a one-year student scholarship at a top quality school
1,000 books: Fund the purchase of materials for a 35-student classroom
2,000 books: Fund four student scholarships at a top quality school
5,000 books: Fund a teacher’s salary for a full year
10,000 books: Fund two teacher’s salaries for a full year

We’ve already developed new posters for Worldfund campus book drives, complete with space to write the name of your student group– see below! Better World Books is moving towards greener materials – all Worldfund posters will be printed with biodegradable “eco-ink” on 25% post-consumer recycled paper, in a carbon-neutral printing process.

Better World Books is proud to include Worldfund as a potential partner for your campus book drive this semester, along with our other great literacy partners, Books for Africa, Room to Read, and the National Center for Family Literacy. Talk to your Regional Director today to find out how you can get involved in a book drive for Worldfund!

Have your say » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, book drive, Impact, latin america, literacy, Our Partners, worldfund