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.

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

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!

There are those who would assume that running a business that keeps old textbooks out of landfills, takes those books and sells them at a low price, and then buys carbon credits to offset emissions that result from shipping those books is actually a charity. How could a company ever make money by trying to do good things for the environment? Better World Books is out to prove those doubters wrong.

Read more over yonder.

[ed. note: Now I know the betterworld.com team isn't far from Haight Ashbury but as a New Yorker I resent this hippie tag, harumph.  (kidding!  thanks for the support, Cyndy!)  However, we've actually raised $4.5 million, not just $2.75 (the difference is the money we've raised for libraries)!]

Make sure to read the March 21st article in the New York Times written by David Brooks, entitled “Thoroughly Modern Do-Gooders”.  This is an excellent article on Social Entrepreneurship and there are many points from the article that connect directly with what we have built here at Better World Books.

I’ve already elucidated why Kiva is great, and if you look around and listen then you know that all of our partners are fantastic but if you’re not sold, Riches for Good, an excellent blog about social responsibility did a report called “Seven Best Bets for International Giving.”  The report shows the only seven international non-profits that have both Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award and Charity Navigator’s 4 Star Rating.  Room to Read is one of those illustrious seven!

If you’re not sure that people want gifts in their name so much as gifts in their hands, there’s still some great options.  Obviously you could buy a book from us where you’d be certain that portions of profit would go to our partners and that shipping would be carbon neutral (and free in the US).  But if you’re in the mood for something different check this out:

Flipanthropic is a company that sells flip flops through their site, Flipanthropy.  A new product comes out each year and the two founders donated all the startup money so 100% of your cash goes to support Room to Read and Women for Women International.

According to Nicholas Yang, Chief Executive Officer of Cyberport, “our distinguished and successful speakers will share their experience on how they bring profits to their companies and benefit society at the same time.  Investors and entrepreneurs will also share their insights on how to seek out, fund and build companies/business models which can do well and do good at the same time.  We believe more that more businesses in the future will embed social elements in their operation and strategy, to help create a better society for future generations in which to live, to work, to enjoy, and to dream.”

Please click on the link  below to find out more information regarding the 2007 Cyberport Venture Capital Forum.

Venture capital forum set for December 4
News.gov.hk – Hong Kong

Attached you will find the article from Fast Company magazine (Dec/Jan issue) that announces their “2008 Social Capitalist Awards.” This is the fifth year Fast Company has selected outstanding companies for their social impact; however, in the past, they have only focused their search and selection process on the non-profit community.

2008 Social Capital Award – Fast Company.pdf (1.25 MB)

This is the first year that Fast Company embarked on an experiment to look at the for-profit sector for those companies that are truly making a social impact and changing the world. Thirty one companies applied and ten winners were selected…..including Better World Books!! Fast Company teamed up with the Monitor Consulting Group and some other outside social venture expertise to apply a rigorous methodology for selecting companies that, in the end, explicitly place social good ahead of shareholder return.

Take a look about what they say about your company….it is certainly nice to see a highly respected institution like Fast Company/Monitor Group verify (again, after a ton of examination), understand (they clearly “get” all that we do and the impact we are making in the world) and publicly applaud our business model.

I like the closing paragraph to the Social Capital Awards article here….worth highlighting for all of you.

“Change the world. Make some money. Raise more money, and make more change. It is an appealing prospect. Nonprofits were born because for-profits weren’t addressing some market failures — pollution, poverty, illiteracy. Profits won’t cure those ills, but it’s becoming a bigger part of more solutions. Perhaps it’s dawning on us that the cost of capital for changing the world should be lower. Perhaps the capital markets will cut the world a break.”

It goes without saying that this award is YOUR award….each and every one of you who make Better World Books run. Congratulations on being such an integral part of not only this recognition but in changing the world….one book at a time.

The REC’s work to create responsible investment practices at universities mirrors Better World Books commitment to social entrepreneurship that creates a positive social and environmental change.

Click here to read the Boston Globe article.