*First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission:*

*to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and
own their first new books.*

*In the last three years alone, First Book has provided more than 20
million new books to children in need in hundreds of communities
nationwide.*

**FIRST BOOK PROVIDES A CRITICAL RESOURCE TO CHILDREN IN NEED.** Access
to books is essential to reading development. However, 61 percent of
low-income families have no books for children in their homes. Over 80
percent of childcare centers serving low-income children lack
age-appropriate books and other print materials. By providing children
from low-income families with books that they can take home and keep,
First Book targets the only variable that correlates significantly with
reading scores, the number of books in the home.

**FIRST BOOK SUPPORTS THE HARDEST TO REACH CHILDREN AND ELEVATES THE
QUALITY OF THE PROGRAMS THAT SERVE THEM.** The children served by First
Book are found in existing programs such as youth centers, housing
projects, pediatric clinics, migrant worker camps, daycare centers, and
other community-based initiatives serving children in need. First Book
works to increase the quality of these programs across the country by
providing high quality books and educational resources that enhance
their overall effectiveness. Support for First Book provides books to
children and strengthens thousands of literacy programs in the
communities across the country that First Book serves. Collaboration
with First Book elevates the quality of education nationwide for the
children who need our help the most.

FIRST BOOK'S UNIQUE MODEL PROVIDES INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR ENDING
ILLITERACY. First Book reaches existing preschool and after-school
programs through a carefully designed national network of local Advisory
Boards. The First Book community-based model brings together a group of
diverse leaders to form self-sustaining Advisory Boards. First Book
Advisory Boards mobilize communities to supply those already at work
with the tools they need to provide new books to the children they
serve. Advisory Boards raise funds locally and select the most effective
programs in their community as First Book grantees. Grantees use the
funds provided by First Book to select and order books from special
catalogues co-branded with First Book's publishing partners that offer
books at a significant discount. New books chosen by program leaders
working directly with children are incorporated into program lessons,
and then given to the children to take home and keep. *All books
distributed by First Book are brand new and are provided at no cost to
the child or the program.*

**FIRST BOOK'S NATIONAL BOOK BANK ENHANCES THE IMPACT OF THE ADVISORY
BOARD MODEL.** First Book created the First Book National Book Bank --
the first-ever centralized system that enables publishers to donate
large quantities of new books and educational materials to the nonprofit
sector for distribution to children from low-income families. First
Book's proprietary technology permits community-based literacy
organizations nationwide to select books online and give them to the
children they serve. The First Book National Book Bank converts a
private sector problem for publishers -- excess books -- into an
innovative solution that advances First Book's mission.

**FIRST BOOK FOSTERS SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGH NATIONAL INITIATIVES AND
PARTNERSHIPS.** First Book has collaborated with public and private
sector leaders on numerous initiatives and cause-based marketing
campaigns, thereby developing a powerful national network of strategic
partnerships that are vital to our success. First Book was awarded
**Connect America's 2003 Partner of the Year Award** in recognition of
First Book's highly successful partnerships with the nonprofit sector
and has won two **Reggie Awards,** including a Gold Medal for its *Dr.
Seuss' The Cat in the Hat* partnership with Universal Studios, from the
Promotional Marketing Association of America for innovative cause-based
marketing campaigns. First Book's corporate partnerships have been
highlighted in *Advertising Age,* *Brandweek, Business Week,*
*Cosmopolitan*, *Esquire*, *Family Circle, Harper's Bazaar*, *Marie
Claire*, *Publishers Weekly, Redbook, USA Today, USA WEEKEND*, *Woman's
Day*, *Working Woman*, and other publications. First Book successfully
uses a range of valuable non-cash assets, including large-scale book
distributions through the First Book National Book Bank, celebrity
involvement, author and illustrator contributions, merchandising and
licensing opportunities, innovative media strategies, and programs for
corporate employee involvement, to create cause-based marketing packages
that benefit First Book and its partners.

**CELEBRITIES AND CHILDREN'S ADVOCATES ENDORSE FIRST BOOK.** First Book
has received support from a range of celebrities, including: Joan Allen,
Reba McEntire, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon,
Janet Jackson, Faith Hill, Magic Johnson, Jim Carrey, Frankie Muniz, and
others. Senators Carnahan, Clinton, Daschle, DeWine, Kennedy, and
Murray, and Secretary of State Colin Powell have also worked to shine
the spotlight on First Book. Finally, First Book enjoys the ongoing
support of a variety of children's authors, and illustrators including:
Felicia Bond, Ruby Bridges, John Coy, Mary Engelbreit, William Joyce,
John Lithgow, and Laura Numeroff.

**\* \* \***

**Forbes Magazine** named First Book one of Ten **"Gold Star"**
Charities in their 2003 Annual Survey of 200 nonprofits, the first year
that the gold-star list has been used to highlight charities Forbes
thinks are worthy of consideration.

**Fast Company and Monitor Group** chose First Book in 2003 as an
inaugural winner of their Social Capitalist Award for using
entrepreneurial genius to solve global issues.

**\* \* \***

First Book is efficient. We practice strict budgetary discipline.

-   First Book spends a stunningly low **1.4% of funds on
    non-programmatic expenses** for management and fundraising, so that
    more than 98% of funds are spent directly in service of our mission.

-   **Every \$1 donated to First Book results in \$16 worth of books
    being distributed** to children in need.

-   In Fall 2003, Charity Navigator
    ([www.charitynavigator.org]{.underline}), a national nonprofit
    service evaluating the financial health of America's largest
    charities, awarded First Book the **highest four-star 'Exceptional'
    rating for the second consecutive year**.

For more information on First Book, or to find out how you can help
distribute new books to children from low-income families in your
community, please call 866-READ-NOW or visit
[www.firstbook.org](http://www.firstbook.org/).