First Book
Founded in 1992, First Book is an award-winning, nonprofit social enterprise that uses market forces to further educational equity for children growing up at the base of the economic pyramid. First Book’s innovative models address systemic barriers to education by:
Building data and research capacities to aggregate and amplify the voice of those serving children in need, advocate for their unique resource needs, and channel funds for that use;
Providing free and low-cost culturally relevant books and the widest range of high-quality resources – from basic needs items to eBooks and eLearning – to educators serving the poor;
Accelerating access to the latest and best educational expertise and research; and
Using market forces as a way to increase cultural inclusion in books and resources.
First Book operates throughout the U.S. and Canada and has worked in more than 30 countries, fueling learning with more than 175 million culturally appropriate books and educational resources. Through a pilot initiative with Manodharma, First Book brought more than 700,000 new books for children across India. First Book plans to build on this successful pilot through partnerships with publishers and researchers in India and the U.S. First Book’s work has been recognized by the World Economic Forum, Credit Suisse, the Clinton Global Initiative, Fast Company; the organization has earned awards from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the Library of Congress, the National Education Association Foundation and others.