Listed below are the most common questions about Better World Books and our operations. For additional information, please email us at info@betterworldbooks.com.
What is Better World Books?
Better World Books is a self-sustaining, for-profit social venture whose mission is to capitalize on the value of the book to fund literacy initiatives locally, nationally and around the world.
We partner with over 900 libraries and 1,600 college campuses across the U.S. and Canada, collecting unwanted textbooks and library discards in support of non-profit literacy programs.
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What is a Social Venture?
Social ventures operate under a for-profit business model in which success is measured by the positive impact a company makes in addressing a specific social issue. In the case of Better World Books, that issue is literacy. The primary purpose of a for-profit social venture is to generate a “social profit” by harnessing the power of commerce.
By operating as a social venture, Better World Books provides its non-profit partners with a consistent and stable source of unrestricted funding. This, in turn, allows the organizations to focus on implementing effective literacy and education programs -- instead of spending an inordinate amount of time raising funds. The nature of our business model allows Better World Books to react swiftly to market opportunities, thereby leveraging the maximum social profit through the wonders of capitalism. As a sustainable venture, we do not rely on government or foundation grants or aid of any kind.
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What is your relationship to your non-profit partners?
We run book drives to benefit four major non-profit literacy-based organizations, as well as 80+ other literacy-based non-profits. The books we collect are passed on to our partners or sold to create a sustainable stream of funding that enables these organizations to further their mission.
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What social and environmental impact has Better World Books made?
From the spring of 2003 through March 2008, Better World Books has collected more than 11.4 million books, raising more than $2.8 million for over 80 literacy and education non-profit organizations, sending over 1 million books to our partner programs & saving over 6,500 tons of books from landfills. Please visit our Impact page for more details.
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How do you collect books?
Books collected by Better World Books come from two primary sources: the 1,600 college and university campuses on which we run textbook drives and the 900-plus libraries and thrift stores that send us discarded and donated books.
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What do you do with the collected books?
Better World Books finds the best possible use for each book collected in support of our mission to promote literacy. Books are either sold to raise money for non-profit literacy programs, sent to one of our non-profit partners for use in their programs, or recycled if unsuitable for sale or partner use.
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Do you throw any books away?
Never. We pride ourselves on our ability to derive the maximum value from every book collected. Any book that cannot be sold or used directly by our literacy programs is recycled. To date, we have diverted 6,500 tons from landfills.
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Can I help promote literacy by purchasing books?
Definitely! All books sold on BetterWorld.com help fund high impact literacy projects on four continents. BetterWorld.com has over 2 million books, free shipping, and every order is shipped carbon neutral with offsets from Carbonfund.org.
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