First Book - Manhattan's Bookmark Blog

Our friends at KPMG and golf champion Phil Mickelson have paired to launch ‘Blue for Books,’ a nationwide charitable initiative designed to put thousands of books into the hands of children in need through the sale of KPMG blue golf hats, just like the famous one that Mickelson wears on tour. 

Mickelson will wear the new KPMG blue hat for the first time during the Shell Houston Open this week at Redstone Golf Club in Humble, Texas, where he is the defending champion.

For one year beginning March 26^th, 100% of the net proceeds ($7.50) from each hat purchased on PhilsBlueHat.com will be donated to First Book to provide three new books to children from low-income families. KPMG has committed to a minimum guaranteed contribution of $50,000.

Make sure to get blue for books!

We’re proud to announce that First Book has earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the highest possible ranking from America’s premier charity evaluator.

“We’ve been putting new books into the hands of children and teachers for twenty years. The work that we do helps transform the lives of kids in need, and we’re delighted to be recognized by Charity Navigator. We want our donors to feel confident that we’re putting their hard-earned gifts to good use, and this rating proves that.”
– Kyle Zimmer, president and CEO of First Book

Charity Navigator rates nonprofit organizations to provide donors of all levels with reliable data about the impact, efficiency and fiscal health of the organizations.

At First Book, we work hard to make sure we’re creating the greatest possible impact as efficiently as we can, and we’re proud to have earned this distinction. We’re grateful to all of you for supporting our work, and we’re glad to show you that we’re using your donations responsibly.

Click here to donate! At First Book, 95 cents out of every dollar goes directly to putting news books into the hands of kids in need in communities across the country.

First Book was part of all kinds of great events across the country for Read Across America Day on Friday, including a tremendous partnership in the city of Newark. Working with some great local nonprofits, we were able to provide almost 17,000 brand-new books — including plenty of Dr. Seuss titles, since Read Across America Day is Dr. Seuss’s birthday — to students at eight Title I public schools in Newark.

We got to meet lots of amazing kids at Belmont-Runyon Elementary, along with some of the educators and public servants that do so much and put so much of themselves into their work.

“I’m just so happy that our kids in Newark are getting thousands of books,” said Mayor Cory Booker. “Not put in libraries or in schools, but actually put in their hands for them to own.”

As always, the best part was seeing the looks on the children’s faces when they were given new books of their own to keep. You might think it was just the excitement any child feels when they’re being given shiny new things, but almost every one of those kids sat down to open their new Dr. Seuss books and start reading them — right there on the floor.

Most kids from low-income families have no books of their own at home. A new book is more than just a novelty for kids like the ones at Belmont-Runyon Elementary; it’s a rare treasure. To see how eager they are to read, you only need to hand them a book.

“The kids love getting these books, they’re really excited about it,” said Lois Myers, librarian at Belmont-Runyon Elementary. “They say ‘We get to keep these books!?’”

First Book doesn’t haul a truckload of books up and dump them on the doorstep. We work carefully with local partners to ensure that the books are part of an ongoing effort to transform children’s lives and elevate the quality of their education.

• The educators at the Newark schools selected quality titles that they knew their kids would respond to.
• Community groups like New Jersey After 3 and the Foundation for Newark’s Future brought in authors to read to the children and coordinated a school-wide assembly to celebrate books and reading.
• Anne Feeley, a generous donor (and Newark native) provided funding to help make everything possible through the Foundation for Newark’s Future’s “My Very Own Library” initiative.
• Local leaders like Mayor Booker made time to spend the day with the children, to entertain them and to let them know they were important.
• Volunteers and parents decorated the auditorium with a Dr. Seuss theme that would have put professional set designers to shame.

We were proud to be a part of an event like this, and happy to bring the books.

Just like we’d be proud to work with people and organizations anywhere who care about improving the lives of the most vulnerable children in their community. When we all work together, we make big things happen.

If you’d like to support First Book’s work, volunteer in your community, or sign up your Title I school or local nonprofit to get new books, we’d love to hear from you.

Over twenty years ago I was volunteering every week at a soup kitchen in Washington, D.C., where I met the most amazing children and families. As I got to know them, I saw how much they had to struggle, but I also saw how bright they were and how motivated they were to succeed.

I also learned that most of them didn’t have a single book to call their own, and that broke my heart.

So, along with two good friends, I started First Book, to make sure those kids, and kids like them all across the country, would have brand-new books of their own, and to make sure that the teachers and program leaders working with these children every day would have the books and resources they need to do their jobs.

Twenty years later, First Book has distributed over 90 million books to kids in need, we work with a national network of over 25,000 schools and programs and we have local volunteers raising money in over 150 cities. Volunteers, corporate partners and publishers, working hand-in-hand with teachers, librarians and local nonprofit leaders … it humbles and amazes me how much we’ve been able to accomplish together, and how many lives we’ve been able to change for the better.

But we’ve only just scratched the surface. There are 30 million children living in low-income households in the United States, and we’re only reaching a fraction of them. They’re waiting for us, and they can’t wait any longer.

So we’ve got some big plans to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Before this year is over, we’re going to distribute another 10 million new books, recruit local volunteers in 30 additional cities, and double the number of schools and programs that are connected to First Book’s resources, from 25,000 to 50,000.

We’ve come so far together, and have made so much progress, but there’s more to be done. Join us!

• Donate: Every $2.50 pays for a brand-new, high-quality book for a child in need.
• Volunteer: Work with other members of your community to get books to local schools and programs.
• Spread the word: If you know a teacher, librarian or volunteer who works with kids from low-income families, in any kind of program, help get them signed up with First Book. We’ve got books for them!

There is no denying it, First Book loves books and we LOVE getting books into the hands of kids in need.

This Valentine’s Day, we ask you to share the love of First Book with teachers and program leaders who work with children from underprivileged families. Let them know that they can get brand-new books for their students by signing up here.

We want every child to discover the LOVE of reading!

Last week, volunteers from Barclays made their fourth visit to Vailsburg Elementary School, one of North Star Academy Charter School’s Newark, NJ campuses, to host a Barclays reading party.

The volunteers started their morning as part of Vailsburg’s Community Circle, a school-wide gathering that is a core part of the North Star culture. After Community Circle, volunteers visited kindergarten classrooms to read four different books to 89 kindergarten students.

The titles included Arthur’s Reading Race, Barack Obama: Out of Many, One, Jamaica and Brianna, and the Barclays special edition of Bunny Money. At the end of the reading time, the kindergartners were excited to discover that they were each taking home copies of the four brand new books in a Barclays backpack.

The reading party at Vailsburg Elementary was the first in the 2012 series of Barclays reading parties. Volunteers will continue to visit K-2 students in the New York metropolitan area throughout the year, bringing new books to every school.

Since 2009, Barclays and First Book have distributed more than 75,000 new books to children in need across the country. In addition to hosting reading parties, Barclays is also working with First Book to develop the financial literacy and college readiness sections on the First Book Marketplace, launch a new program with Teach for America’s New York region, and provide college readiness grants to 10 middle and high schools. Each element of our partnership with Barclays is helping First Book to reach more students with more valuable educational resources.