First Book - Manhattan's Bookmark Blog

Well, tomorrow is the big day… First Book -...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:31:01 -0400

Well, tomorrow is the big day… First Book - Manhattan’s 1st Annual Spring Fundraiser! If you haven’t reserved your tickets yet, there’s still time, but space is filling up fast. Go to http://firstbooknycspring2012.eventbrite.com/ to purchase your tickets now. We can’t wait to see you tomorrow!

KPMG Gets Blue for Books

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:22:51 -0400

KPMG Gets Blue for Books:

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!

First Book Earns Highest Possible Rating from Charity Navigator

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:25:16 -0400

First Book Earns Highest Possible Rating from Charity Navigator:

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.

Help First Book - Manhattan promote our 1st Annual Spring...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:59:00 -0400

Help First Book - Manhattan promote our 1st Annual Spring Fundraiser by using this image as your Facebook timeline cover and your Twitter background! We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at our event on April 5!

If you haven’t already purchased your tickets, be sure to get yours today at http://firstbooknycspring2012.eventbrite.com/!

Don’t miss First Book - Manhattan’s 1st Annual...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:29:00 -0500

Don’t miss First Book - Manhattan’s 1st Annual Spring Fundraiser, April 5 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.! Can’t wait to see you there!

Purchase tickets at http://firstbooknycspring2012.eventbrite.com/.

Kids Are Eager to Read: Just Add Books

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:01:23 -0500

Kids Are Eager to Read: Just Add Books:

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.

First Book - Manhattan's 1st Annual Spring Fundraiser

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:54:00 -0500

Join First Book – Manhattan for Our 1st Annual Spring Fundraiser!

When? Thursday, April 5, 2012 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Where? Southern Hospitality, 645 9th Ave. (at the corner of 45th Street), New York, NY 10036

Featuring…

Delicious buffet of southern-style hors d’oeuvres
Three-hour open wine and beer bar, including a signature First Book Cocktail
Fabulous Raffle Prizes
Live DJ

Come out to eat, drink and support First Book - Manhattan!

Tickets are $45 online, $50 at the door.

All profits go directly toward buying new books for needy children in the New York City metro area.

To purchase tickets, go to http://firstbooknycspring2012.eventbrite.com.

For more details on First Book - Manhattan, visit http://www.firstbook.org/manhattan.

Creating Success Stories for 20 Years

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:27:34 -0500

Creating Success Stories for 20 Years:

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!

Share the LOVE of Books

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:55:31 -0500

Share the LOVE of Books:

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!

Barclays and First Book Bring New Books to Newark

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:54:48 -0500

Barclays and First Book Bring New Books to Newark:

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.

Happy Friendiversary! Mo Willems and First Book Join Forces to Bring New Books to New Orleans Kids

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:50:26 -0500

Happy Friendiversary! Mo Willems and First Book Join Forces to Bring New Books to New Orleans Kids:

Today is Friendiversary, when we celebrate the anniversary of our friendships. Think of one of your oldest and dearest friends. When did you first meet? How did you meet? That story is the story of your Friendiversary.

First Book is celebrating Friendiversary this week by providing 7,000 new Elephant & Piggie books to second-graders at Title I schools in Louisiana and Massachusetts. The Elephant & Piggie series is written and illustrated by our friend Mo Willems, whose support makes it possible for First Book able to provide these books. Every book includes a special Friendiversary note from Mo, and his publisher, Disney Publishing Worldwide, is also providing activity kits, stickers and posters free of charge to each classroom.

In fact, we’re so delighted with the Friendiversary kit that we also made it available to all the schools and programs in First Book’s national network.

There are Friendiversary parties happening in classrooms and programs all over today … or tomorrow, or last weekend. We’re pretty flexible on when you actually celebrate Friendiversary.

The biggest party we’ve heard about so far took place in New Orleans, at James Singleton Charter School. (Mo grew up in New Orleans, and has a special place in his heart for New Orleans kids, so making sure they all had copies of his books was important to him.)

Lynetta Rhodes, the chair of the local First Book volunteer group in New Orleans, organized the party. “I love to see the community come together for our children,” she said. “You should have seen their faces light up when they saw Elephant and Piggie!”

Lynetta sent us some great pictures, and filled us in on all the details:

Every student got two copies of Mo’s books to keep, including There’s a Bird On Your Head, Are You Ready to Play Outside?, Today I Will Fly and Should I Share My Ice Cream?. (“I can’t believe I got two books!” one of the students told Lynetta).
There were all kinds of local celebrity guests on hand to read with the kids, including New Orleans city councilmember Susan Guidry, children’s author Robin Washington, Louisiana State Rep. Wesley Bishop and TV reporter Rosa Flores.
There was plenty of ice cream.

“The children looked adorable in their ‘Elephant and Piggie’ ears and the costumed characters made the kids shout with glee,” said local authorDianne de Las Casas, the MC for the event. “Friendiversary at James Singleton Charter School was a great success.”

Happy Friendiversary, everyone!

If you work with kids from low-income families, you can be a part of Friendiversary and other great events and opportunities throughout the year. Sign up with First Book to find out how we can help you get new books for your kids.

She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:56:08 -0500

She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain:

Dear First Book,

Thank you for giving us the books. We really like them. You guys have the best books ever because my little sister loves these books.

I like the ‘Nancy Drew Goes to Hollywood’ one. Your books are really fun to read and they’re funny. I also like ‘She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain’.

How many books do you give out every year? Is it over 100 or lesser? It would have to be over 100 because you have to probably send books to every school right?

Have you guys ever had any other books? Have you ever been to Hawaii?

Sincerely,
Kiley

Dear Kiley,

Thanks for your letter! We get lots of thank you letters here at First Book. We read every single one of them, but we don’t often get the chance to write back. But we liked yours extra, because you asked so many excellent questions.

First of all, good job reading to your little sister. Keep it up!

We distribute a lot of books every year. Way more than one hundred, as you guessed. Last year we distributed almost NINE MILLION new books to kids like you, all over the country. And this year we’re going to do even more.

Your teacher obviously cares a lot about you and her other students, so she signed up with First Book. We want to make sure every kid out there has new books of his or her own. So if you ever meet anyone who works with kids from low-income neighborhoods, tell them to sign up with First Book, and we can help them get the books they need.

As for other books, we have LOTS of books. We have over 2,000 books on the First Book Marketplace, a website where we provide books at affordable prices. (Including lots of Nancy Drew books; they’re some of our favorites too.)

We also have another program, called the National Book Bank, where our friends at publishing companies give us lots of other new books so that we can give them away to smart kids like you.

As for Hawaii, we have been! That’s one of the many places we go to give out books; we were there a couple years ago. We would love to come back, though, because Hawaii is AWESOME. If we come back, maybe we’ll see you.

Thanks for writing to us, and keep reading!

Sincerely,
Your friends at First Book

PS – We liked your picture of the lady on the horse going up the mountain.

Justin Tuck – Champion of Literacy

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:55:21 -0500

Justin Tuck – Champion of Literacy:

Are you getting excited for the Super Bowl this weekend? We know we are! This year’s rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots promises to be an exciting game, and not just for the helmet crashing, Madonna halftime show and commercials.

We here at First Book are also looking forward to cheering on our friend, Justin Tuck. The star defensive end for the New York Giants has been working with First Book since 2008 when he and his wife, Lauran, launched Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy. The R.U.S.H. program encourages children to Read, Understand, Succeed, and Hope as they continue to nurture literacy in their lives.

Since 2008, Justin has donated more than $100,000 to help First Book provide children from low-income families in New York, New Jersey and Alabama, his home state, with brand new books.

We’re excited to kickoff another great year with Justin by cheering for him in the Super Bowl this Sunday!

To join Justin in his support of First Book, please go to www.firstbook.org/justintuck

What Is Social Entrepreneurship? (And Why First Book Is Such a Good Example)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:43:08 -0500

What Is Social Entrepreneurship? (And Why First Book Is Such a Good Example):

A social entrepreneur is someone who sees a social problem — like hunger, homelessness or lack of access to clean water — and looks for ways to solve it. Unlike more traditional business entrepreneurs, who are trying to generate profits, social entrepreneurs are trying change society. Long-term change is important, not just solutions to the immediate problems.

At First Book, the problem we’ve been working on for twenty years is the unbelievable lack of books and other educational materials faced by children from low-income families. Books are painfully scarce for many of these kids; one study that never fails to shock showed that there is only one book available for every 300 children in some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the country.

First Book works by giving the teachers, librarians and local program leaders that work with these kids ongoing access to the new, quality books they need to do their jobs. Giving a child a new book of their own is a powerful thing, but the real impact comes from making sure they have books throughout their lives, from before they enter kindergarten until they graduate — with honors — from high school.

So we were pleased to see ourselves listed as one of the five examples of nonprofits around the world providing “innovative yet pragmatic approaches to solving social problems” in a new report from the respected financial services company Credit Suisse.

The report, “Investing for Impact: How social entrepreneurship is redefining the meaning of return”, was just released at the World Economic Forum in Davos. You can learn more about it, and download a copy for yourself, online here.

In it, the Credit Suisse analysts have this to say:

[T]he potential of growing efforts to deliver entrepreneurial solutions to global problems is bigger than ever before – as are the opportunities to channel private capital toward social and environmental issues.

The report also quotes Mark Kramer, the co-founder and managing director of social impact consulting firm FSG:

Many investors and philanthropists are turning to impact investments as equally valid and in some cases even more effective vehicles for social change than pure charity. To complement this growing interest, a number of new innovations are emerging in the field, ranging from new financial tools to better metrics for social impact to new impact investing funds.

All that may sound a little dry, but it’s actually really exciting stuff. First Book, and groups like it around the world, are charting the way to better and more equitable societies.

But doing so requires support and funding on a large scale, so it’s a big deal that the international investment community is paying close attention to the work that we’re doing and the impact that we’re having.

Learn more about First Book and our work at firstbook.org, or sign up for monthly updates about ways you can get involved.

MLK, The Obamas & First Book

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:32:07 -0500

MLK, The Obamas & First Book:

Every year, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day presents us with an opportunity to renew our commitment to serving our communities.

Yesterday, President Obama, Michelle Obama and First Book helped to refurbish a local elementary school library in Washington DC. Together with a large group of volunteers, they cleaned, painted and organized 600 books donated to the school by First Book.

Credit: MSNBC

First Book was pleased to be a part of the First Family’s Day of Service.

Visit http://www.firstbook.org/get-involved to learn more about how you can serve your community with First Book.

“It was too noisy at my house and I knew if I came to school I could find a quiet place to finish it.”

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:53:26 -0500

“It was too noisy at my house and I knew if I came to school I could find a quiet place to finish it.”

First Book - Manhattan Has Entered the Blogosphere!

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:25:20 -0500

To Our Loyal Supporters,

Thanks for visiting First Book - Manhattan’s new Tumblr blog! We couldn’t be more excited to kick off 2012 with a big leap into the world of social media because we know there’s no better way to share our cause (and turn it viral) than with social media.

For those of you who don’t know what we do, First Book provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy — access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, each year First Book distributes millions of free and low-cost books to disadvantaged children and the programs that serve them. Founded in early 2011, our group here in Manhattan is one of First Book’s newest advisory boards, and we’re ready to make a huge impact in an area that desperately needs support.

On this blog, you’ll find insights into our fundraising efforts and our experiences reaching out to the kids we’re so proud to support. You’ll read news from our board, as well as from our national headquarters, and we’ll reblog great content we think you’ll enjoy. Our goal is to support literacy in the New York City area, and to provide our supporters with thought-provoking, engaging and inspiring content to encourage you to help us spread the word in 2012 and beyond.

If you haven’t connected with us already, be sure to follow First Book - Manhattan on Twitter and LinkedIn, become our fan on Facebook, and +1 us on Google+. Oh yeah, and follow this brand new blog here on Tumblr! Are we missing any social networks you think we should be on? Let us know!

If you’d like to help us buy books for kids in need, visit our Web site and click the “Donate Now” button. As always, we sincerely thank you for your support.

—The First Book - Manhattan Advisory Board