First Book In the News

The decline of literacy rates over the past decade is a national emergency. Fewer than a third of the nation’s fourth graders had proficient reading scores last year, and the share is even lower among poor children. The causes are many, including ineffective teaching methods, misallocated spending, digital technology and long Covid-19 school closures.

As severe as the nation’s literacy problem is, it is not intractable. Effective charity can help, especially when the Trump administration is unwisely dismantling the Department of Education. First Book, a New York Times Community Fund partner, makes sure low-income school districts have access to high-quality books. Teachers who used First Book reported that their students spent more time reading and their literacy scores improved.

Early access to high-quality books can transform lives, improve educational outcomes and help create the next generation of curious and informed citizens. To make a meaningful investment in American education, we encourage you to consider donating to First Book through The New York Times Communities Fund.

To celebrate their 25 years of partnership, Penguin Random House and national education nonprofit First Book will host two free virtual events on Monday, November 17. These livestreamed presentations will honor PRH and First Book’s longtime collaboration, which has resulted in 42 million books donated to children in need.

With PRH and other publishers, First Book has distributed some 250 million books to young readers. By 2030, First Book plans to bring in more educators and ultimately quadruple the number of students it reaches to an estimated 27 million.

Zimmer wants to be a bridge between publisher partners and the schools, libraries, and organizations that work directly with children. “Millions of people dedicate themselves to improving educational outcomes for kids in need,” Zimmer said. “First Book has spent 34 years refining our models. Now we’re ready to put our hand on that volume knob and crank it, and we need people to talk to people to make sure that happens.”

However, it’s difficult to know exactly how AI can be best utilized when many organizations are opting to proceed with caution when it comes to AI adoption. To help, 14 Forbes Nonprofit Council members detail how the implementation of AI has impacted their organizations. Read on to learn more about how AI has enabled these organizations to further their missions and growth.

The implementation of artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how businesses across industries operate. As AI capabilities continue to develop and grow more sophisticated, leveraging this technology within a nonprofit can not only support an organization’s mission, but also drive its growth.

“First Book’s scaling plan—to grow from serving 6.5 million to 27 million children in need annually—depends on AI. For our research arm, we use AI to analyze data from thousands of educators in minutes. On an operational level, this will increase the number of books and resources we distribute (currently 12 to 15 million yearly), allowing us to reach more educators and more children with greater efficiency and impact.” – Kyle Zimmer, First Book

WNCT Channel 9 reports on a recent book distribution in Greenville, NC conducted in partnership with Delta Sigma Theta sorority.