First Book is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992. There are two parts to the organization, their book bank and their retail bookstore. The First Book National Book Bank takes books donated by publishers and distributes them to churches, schools and organizations serving children with special needs. First Book Marketplace allows qualified subscribers from low-income families or disadvantaged schools to buy books at a discount.
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History
Kyle Zimmer was motivated to start First Book by the research that the University of Michigan had recently done. This research showed that there was an average of one book for three hundred children among low-income households. Zimmer decided to build on the Ford idea by lowering prices and standardizing assembly to produce affordable books. She started the organization with Peter Gold and Elizabeth Arky by using $50,000 in seed money from Bill Shore's "Share Our Strength", which fights childhood hunger. The startup of the First Book Marketplace was funded by a $100,000 prize from the Goldman Sachs Foundation for best business plan at the 2005 Yale School of Management competition. Later, First Book did its own survey to find out whether organizations serving low-income families could afford to buy low-cost books. Sixty-eight percent could.
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Business Model
First Book is considered to be a hybrid organization: an organization with both a money-making and a social-ministry aspect. The founders have been able to keep the business so well aligned that these aspects reinforce each other instead of taking funds from each other. The business model for First Book provides publishers a way to donate excess unsold books and receive a tax deduction. The First Book National Book Bank receives approximately 60 cents in shipping and handling fees for each book distributed. In 2012, First Book Marketplace sold $7.5 million worth of books, the majority of the nonprofit's $12.6 million in revenue. Corporations such as Disney, Barclays, KPMG and General Mills philanthropist/cosmetics heiress Aerin Lauderare are also donors to the organization.
Reviews and Awards
Kyle Zimmer won the National Book Foundation's Literarian Award (2014) for her lifetime work at First Book, the 2017 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the 2016 Jefferson Award, the Peggy Charren / Free to Be You and Me Award, the Lifetime Collective Impact Reward, and the Carle Honor. She also was put on the 2016 Ideagen Power 100 List, and named Nonprofit Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association and Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. First Book also received many awards as an organization, including the 2015 David M. Rubenstein Prize, the Social Capitalist Award from Fast Company and the Monitor Group, and the Gold Halo Award., It has been reviewed favorably by the Charity Navigator and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance as a trustworthy institution.,
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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