Better World Books Debuts Innovative Grant-Making Model

Reader's Choice Literacy Grant invites proposals from literacy projects worldwide - and gives Better World Books customers voting power to award $20,000

ATLANTA, GA (October 8, 2009) - Better World Books announces today an unprecedented new grant-making model that solicits proposals from literacy-focused non-profits, and invites Better World customers to select the most deserving submission to receive the $20,000 Reader's Choice Literacy Grant. Better World Books, a for-profit social enterprise, collects and sells new and used books online, donating a portion of each sale to help fund literacy initiatives worldwide.

The Reader's Choice Literacy Grant, to be awarded every six months, is part of Better World Books' continued effort to raise awareness and encourage involvement in literacy initiatives among its customer base. The grant will be supported by the Better World Books General Literacy Fund, financed from the sale of books not designated to a Better World Books nonprofit literacy partner. Application details are available at http://www.betterworldbooks.com/rclg.

We want to continue raising public awareness about the importance of literacy, said Better World Books CEO David Murphy. "Our customers are already passionate about books and literacy - and we see The Readers' Choice Literacy Grant as a great way to deepen that engagement and empower people to help make a difference. We look forward to seeing the proposals over the coming weeks and months."

Applicants must propose a specific use for the grant money that demonstrates meaningful impact on literacy in the US or abroad. After a first round of screening by the Better World Books Literacy Committee, voting to select the winner will be open to any online visitors to the Better World website. The deadline for the first submission is November 13, 2009, with the grant to be awarded in November.

Every book bought on BetterWorldBooks.com funds global literacy through Better World Books' five primary non-profit literacy partners (the National Center for Family Literacy, Books for Africa, Room to Read, Worldfund, and Invisible Children), as well as nearly 100 other non-profit organizations.

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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 three 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 1,800 college campuses, and by collecting discards from over 1,800 libraries nationwide. Since its founding in 2003, the Mishawaka, Ind.-based company has raised over $7 million for its non-profit literacy, library and college partners; donated over 1.3 million college textbooks; diverted more than 25 million pounds of books from landfills; achieved over 9,000 tons of carbon offsets through carbon-neutral shipping, and created more than 200 full-time jobs with meaningful benefits.