How to use this Page

Yesterday morning, Andrew Meyer, the operations manager for the First Book Marketplace, sent an email to the First Book staff sharing his thoughts about a young foreign service officer killed in Afghanistan while bringing books to children in need.

I was touched by Andrew’s email, and asked him if I could share it on the First Book blog.

Anne Smedinghoff (Photo from washingtonpost.com)

Many of you probably heard that six Americans were killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan this past Saturday. It seems that we have something in common with at least one of them: Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old foreign service officer from Chicago. Anne was killed while delivering textbooks to children at a school.

Certainly we’re far from the chaos of Afghanistan, but I can’t help but feel a kinship with this young woman. I know as well as anyone that this business — this business of doing good — can be extremely challenging: long hours, increasing demand, lower salaries, uncertain funding sources, etc.

But never forget that we are all doing our part to increase knowledge and level the playing field. We are contributing to a movement that will have an impact centuries from now.

I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on life since my wife’s passing back in September and I know that when my time comes I hope to be comforted by the fact that I’ve done my part to make the world just a little bit better.

The post Young Diplomat Killed While Bringing Books to Kids appeared first on First Book Blog.

Last year First Book made it a goal to reach more kids in need by doubling the number of local schools and community programs in our national network, from 25,000 to 50,000.

We’ve reached that number! Over 50,000 Title I classrooms, early childhood education programs, afterschool programs, museums and libraries, housing authorities, faith-based organizations, military family support programs, health clinics and others are signed up with First Book, and every one of them now has permanent, ongoing access to a steady stream of brand-new, high-quality books and educational resources.

That’s terrific news, and we’re grateful to all the partners and supporters that helped us get there.

But we’re not knocking off work just yet. There are 30 million children in the United States living in low-income homes, and access to books is scarce for far too many of them. There are over 1.3 million programs and classrooms still waiting for us, and we need to reach them all.

Help make that happen! If you know someone who works with kids from low-income families, tell them about First Book. Forward them this blog post, or send them to our website, where they can sign up.

It’s quick, it’s free, and we have brand-new books just waiting for them.

* Click on the graphic to see a bigger, snazzier version.

Learn more about how First Book provides new books to kids in need, and how you can get involved, at firstbook.org.

The thing that I like about First Book is that kids can have their own books in their own houses that their parents can read to them, and, later, that they can read themselves.
– Jane Greene, First Book supporter

Jane Greene is a longtime supporter of First Book. She isn’t a wealthy philanthropist, but she is the kind of person that all good causes look for – a dedicated, constant cultivator of people and projects she believes in. She’s also someone who understands the importance of helping kids in need have new books to read.

“I always send books as baby gifts,” Greene said. “The value of reading and owning books has been in my life always.”

Greene works at a nonprofit as well, the Mental Health Association of Montgomery County in Maryland. (Two of the agency’s programs – Kensington Wheaton Youth Services and Bridges to Pals – actually work with First Book to get new books for their kids, although Greene actually found out about First Book during a promotional campaign with Borders bookstore.)

“The thing that I like about First Book is that kids can have their own books in their own houses that their parents can read to them, and, later, that they can read themselves,” Greene said.

“No gift is too small,” Green added. “I just decided to commemorate special occasions, acts of kindness and holidays by sending a little something to First Book.”

Not only have Greene’s contributions put brand-new books into the hands of kids from low-income families, she typically makes donations in the name of others, many of whom, when they find out about the gift and the work First Book does, go on to become supporters themselves. (It wasn’t easy to get Greene to agree to be profiled. “I was always the one behind the scenes,” she said. “That’s the way I like to influence and educate others.”)

First Book couldn’t do the work that we do without the open-hearted generosity of people like Jane Greene. Thanks, Jane! We’re glad you’re in our corner.

Click here to help get books to kids in need in your community by supporting First Book.

A social entrepreneur is someone who sees a social problem — like hunger, homelessness or lack of access to clean water — and looks for ways to solve it. Unlike more traditional business entrepreneurs, who are trying to generate profits, social entrepreneurs are trying change society. Long-term change is important, not just solutions to the immediate problems.

At First Book, the problem we’ve been working on for twenty years is the unbelievable lack of books and other educational materials faced by children from low-income families. Books are painfully scarce for many of these kids; one study that never fails to shock showed that there is only one book available for every 300 children in some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the country.

First Book works by giving the teachers, librarians and local program leaders that work with these kids ongoing access to the new, quality books they need to do their jobs. Giving a child a new book of their own is a powerful thing, but the real impact comes from making sure they have books throughout their lives, from before they enter kindergarten until they graduate — with honors — from high school.

So we were pleased to see ourselves listed as one of the five examples of nonprofits around the world providing “innovative yet pragmatic approaches to solving social problems” in a new report from the respected financial services company Credit Suisse.

The report, “Investing for Impact: How social entrepreneurship is redefining the meaning of return”, was just released at the World Economic Forum in Davos. You can learn more about it, and download a copy for yourself, online here.

In it, the Credit Suisse analysts have this to say:

[T]he potential of growing efforts to deliver entrepreneurial solutions to global problems is bigger than ever before – as are the opportunities to channel private capital toward social and environmental issues.

The report also quotes Mark Kramer, the co-founder and managing director of social impact consulting firm FSG:

Many investors and philanthropists are turning to impact investments as equally valid and in some cases even more effective vehicles for social change than pure charity. To complement this growing interest, a number of new innovations are emerging in the field, ranging from new financial tools to better metrics for social impact to new impact investing funds.

All that may sound a little dry, but it’s actually really exciting stuff. First Book, and groups like it around the world, are charting the way to better and more equitable societies.

But doing so requires support and funding on a large scale, so it’s a big deal that the international investment community is paying close attention to the work that we’re doing and the impact that we’re having.

Learn more about First Book and our work at firstbook.org, or sign up for monthly updates about ways you can get involved.

First Book distributed eight million brand-new books to kids in need this year. That’s a LOT of books, and those books have the power to change a lot of lives.

And, with your help, we want to do even more in the year to come!

Donate now to provide new books to kids in need through First Book

Every $2.50 you donate goes to provide a brand-new book to a kid in need, helping them become a reader and changing their life. And your impact will go even further this year – through Dec. 31, our friends at Disney Publishing Worldwide will match every $1 donated with another new book. Pretty great stuff.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support of First Book and the children who are counting on us.