Better World Books Celebrates $10M Raised for Literacy by Launching Book for Book™ Matching Initiative

ATLANTA, GA (August 15, 2011) – With company revenues on track for its strongest year to date, and over eight million new and used book titles for sale, socially responsible online bookseller Better World Books announces today its “Book for Book” initiative: for every book purchased on BetterWorldBooks.com or www.BetterWorldBooks.co.uk, the company will donate one book to charity.
The matching program kicks off just as Better World Books raises its ten millionth dollar for literacy, a fundraising effort built into its unique revenue model, which raises funds for non-profit literacy partners with every book sold. Donated books will go directly to non-profits Feed the Children and Books for Africa. The Book for Book initiative is in addition to funds raised for literacy with every sale.
“Reaching the $10 million fundraising mark and launching this powerful new Book for Book matching initiative is exciting for our entire company,” said Better World Books co-founder Xavier Helgesen. “But it means even more for the social entrepreneurship landscape as a whole — specifically, that it has come of age. We’ve shown – and continue to show – just how successful a company can be when it leverages environmental and social impact.”
The company pioneered the social capital movement in 2003, when it debuted its innovative business model: collect discarded books destined for landfills, sell them online, and give back a portion of each book sale to non-profit literacy partners Books for Africa, Room to Read, Invisible Children, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Worldfund. And with roughly two billion pounds of books thrown away in the U.S. every year*, Better World Books’ does more than support global literacy – it protects the environment by keeping discarded books out of landfills.
Added Helgesen: “Our customers return again and again because they feel good about the social contribution they make when they shop for their favorite books – Book for Book aims to make that connection between customers and cause even tighter.”
*Environmental Protection Agency, 2008

ABOUT BETTER WORLD BOOKS

Better World Books (www.BetterWorldBooks.com) is a for-profit social enterprise that collects and sells books online with each sale generating funds for literacy initiatives in the U.S. and around the world. With more than eight million new and used titles in stock, Better World Books is a self-sustaining company that balances the social, economic and environmental values of its stakeholders. Better World Books diverts books from landfills by conducting book drives on thousands of college campuses and libraries. Since its founding in 2003, the Mishawaka, Ind.-based company has raised over $10 million for libraries and literacy, donated over 5 million books; re-used or recycled over 57 million books and achieved 23,000 tons of carbon offsets through carbon balanced shipping.

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