Giving to the Givers

by Judith Rosen, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 6/23/2005

Washington, D.C.-based First Book, a literary organization that provides free books to children in low-income families, is getting some help of its own. After receiving 1.9 million books from Random House last month, the largest donation in its thirteen-year history, the nonprofit was named one of the grand-prize winners in the business plan competition of the Yale School of Management-The Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures. The award, which includes a cash prize of $100,000 and consulting services valued at $40,000, was given for a pilot project to sell low-cost books to other nonprofits, such as day care centers, that service disadvantaged kids.

According to First Book spokesperson Eugenia Hull, publishers provide the books used in the First Book Marketplace program through special print runs and purchasing arrangements. The books are then sold at reduced cost in case quantities on the http://www.FBMarketplace.org/ Web site. "We are not trying to compete with publishers," says Hull. "One of the things that makes this program attractive to publishers is that it serves children who otherwise wouldn't have these books. These are books that we sell to nonprofits to keep for themselves; they are not going to be resold."

In part, what impressed the awards committee about this revenue-generating project is that without any promotion First Book Marketplace has already brought in $300,000 and developed a database of 11,000 nonprofits. The award will enable First Book to add to the titles in the Marketplace program and to bring in new nonprofits.