For almost 20 years,
First Book has been providing new books to children in need addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. The organization is the brainchild of
Kyle Zimmer, a corporate lawyer who volunteered in an inner-city soup kitchen. When she realized that these kids had no books, she left her day job behind and, with two friends, launched First Book.
Accomplishments and Impact
- First Book has delivered more than 65 million books to programs serving children in need across the United States and Canada.
- There are more than 275 First Book Advisory Boards. Together, they form an extensive network of volunteer community leaders serving as ambassadors dedicated to fundraising.
- The First Book National Book Bank (FBNBB), created in 1999, now receives donations from more than 50 publishers.
- The largest single donation to the FBNBB was 1.9 million books from Random House in 2005.
- The largest single distribution of the FBNBB was 2 million books in 2002.
Is there a First Book Advisory Board in my community?
First Book calls its community organizations an
Advisory Board network. An Advisory Board is a committee of local volunteers, representing a community or campus, that come together to raise awareness and funds in order to provide new books and educational materials to local programs serving children from low-income families.
Click on this map to find an Advisory Board in your area. If there is no Advisory Board in your area and you are interested in starting one, you can
send an email.
Can I Donate Books to First Book?
First Book accepts large-scale donations of new books directly from publishers. If you’re interested in becoming a publishing partner, contact the organization via the
First Book National Book Bank.
First Book does not accept donations of used or new books from individuals. Through a partnership with Better World Books, you can sell your used books in the BWB online market place and have the proceeds donated to First Book. Learn more about this program
here.
How Else Can I Help First Book?
Volunteer ~ First Book needs volunteers to help with book distributions and special events across the nation. Please
click here for more information on getting involved: for more information on getting involved.
Bookmark First Book’s sponsor page ~ Another way to help is to bookmark the
Click to Give™ Free Books link. There is a sponsors page on the First Book website. When you click the “Give Free Books” link each day, you are encouraging sponsors to buy books. Shop some of the sponsor links and First Book earns even more. 100% of these donations go to getting books to kids.
Shop online ~ Shop
www.betterworld.com/firstbook and a portion of the proceeds will help First Book get more books to kids! Better World Books accepts pre-paid book donation shipments from the general public in support of First Book. Saleable donations will be made available for sale on more than 17 online marketplaces and a portion of the proceeds will benefit First Book. Non-saleable items will be made available to another one of Better World Books' non-profit literacy partners or recycled.
On it’s
Get Involved page, First Book lists ideas on ways you can support their literacy work, from starting your own Advisory Board to sponsoring fundraisers to making donations.
Contact and Social Media Platforms*
Keep Reading
This concludes our series of profiles on literacy charities. That said, there are community book drives for communities near and far. In this week's Children's Literacy and Reading News Roundup, Jen Robinson has quite a few links to seasonal and ongoing initiatives around the world at Jen Robinson's Book Page.
Making sure that kids have books of their own is the most important thing we can do to encourage their growth as readers. If you know of other programs, please be sure to leave a comment.
*Social media icons courtesy of komodomedia.com and iconarchive.com. Both companies use a 3.0 Creative Commons license to promote sharing of their work, with attribution.
Posts
