THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013
PAGE 9A
CHARITY
Students help fight illiteracy through online book vendor
ASHLEY BOOKER
abooker@kansan.com
As classes begin, so does the hunt for textbooks. Once students find their class name, they oftentimes walk down the aisle of the KU Bookstore to either find nothing, or an overpriced book.
Better World Books currently in a partnership with KU Libraries for
The next step for most students is to look for the book elsewhere. Better World Books is an online bookstore that promotes social change, and may be the solution to this problem that many KU students face. Better World Books currently has a partnership with KU Libraries for
their unneeded duplicate books in exchange for funds. They also work with Mortar Board, a senior honor society on campus who has a book drop box at Watson library. For every book
The Ghana Book Trust is a nonprofit that receives Books for Africa books regularly, and sells them for the absolute minimum to recover the shipping costs. Better World Books donates books to Books for Africa.
For every book purchased online from Better World, the company donates a book to someone in need. Better World Books also helps fund high-impact literacy projects around the world. If a library or bookstore donates a book that is unsaleable or unable to be donated then it is recycled to reduce landfill waste.
"When you boil it down, literacy is the foundation building block of all other learning."
Their triple bottom-line include
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Better World Books was originally founded by Christopher "Kreece" Fuchs and Xavier Helgesen, friends from South Bend, Ind. who came up with the idea after graduating from college.
JOHN UIDA
Vice President of Marketing
Better World Books has earned $26 million in revenue in the past 10 years. How did they do it? By having a compassionate mission. They describe themselves as a triple bottom-line company, saying that they "understand that profit is not the only way to measure business success."
They went to a local community center and, after convincing the center's director, were able to use the space to store the books that they sold and bought online. Six months later, they had raised over $10,000 collected and reselling books.
After having trouble selling back old textbooks to the campus bookstore the original founders took matters into their own hands.
"people," represented by the social impact of donating books and funds for literacy programs; "planet," represented by keeping books out of landfills (111 million books so far); and "profit," represented
by a desire to serve all stakeholders equally, which includes the community, environment, employees and their shareholders.
"In their company values they state, 'We strive to do the right thing at all times'. What type of company has that as their mission? No one," Michelle Brox, a sophomore from Overland Park, said. The company collects books from a network of more than 2,300 college campuses and has partnerships with over 3,000 libraries.
Better World Books also partners with four major non-profitso who receive funds and/or books. These partners include Books for Africa, National Center for Fam-
Literacy, Room to Read and World Fund, all of which help ill-literate children, families, or both.
When purchasing a book from betterworldbooks.com, prices are usually cheaper than most and include free shipping, but, carbon balanced shipping is optional. If customers choose this option, they pay a few more cents at checkout to
ments, they insure every dollar of profit is reinvested in the company.
For each library book sold, 15 percent of the sale goes to the library and 5 percent goes to a literacy partner. While the other portion is confidential to Better World Books partnership agree-
help fight global warming. Three of four customers choose to do so, John Uida, vice president of marketing for Better World Books, said.
A ticker is located at the top of their website that allows visitors to witness progress as it happens. It includes a running count of books donated, funds raised for literacy and libraries, and the number of books reused or recycled.
"You can literally see the difference they are making on a minute-by-minute basis," Brox said.
"When you boil it down, literacy is the foundation building block of all other learning," Ujdra said. Better World Books will continue to help that foundation for many years to come.
Edited by Sarah Kramer
BLOGGERS FROM PAGE 5A
Students discuss importance, benefits of personal blogging
Freshman from Kansas City, Missouri Blog Column: Sporting KC http://soccernewday.com/colum- nists/131/skylar-rolstad
Skylar uses the Soccer Newsday website to voice his opinions on Sporting KC. As a journalism major, Skylar said that he uses his column to gain experience in his field.
How did you get your start writing this column?
this column?
I started writing when I had a personal sports blog and was contacted by the editor of soccernewsday.com. Soccer Newday gave me credentials to cover Sporting Kansas City games at Sporting Park.
What is your favorite part of being a columnist?
I'd say my favorite part is getting access to the stadium and being able to interview players and coaches. Also [I like] meeting a lot of great people that do the same thing as me.
It's important for students to blog because it offers a different perspective that some other mediums or ways of expressing yourself couldn't.
Why is it important for students to blog?
Freshman from Overland Park Blog Subject: Fandom & Equal Rights http://hairyrotterjew.tumblr.com
Liran uses Tumblr to reblog Harry Potter related posts and to voice her opinions on equal rights. Tumblr's community aspect draws many bloggers like Liran.
Describe your blog in one sentence.
My blog is a mash-up of a multitude of fandoms and angry opinions.
What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?
At this point, I think that my blog is mostly for me rather than for everyone else. I don't expect my posts to be seen by a lot of people. I re-blog the stuff that I like. It's a comforting place and you meet people from all over the world.
I think that blogging serves as a way to develop another group of friends. It's a good way to find people who are interested in what you are also interested in. It keeps me connected to a lot of clever and talented people.
Why is blogging important?
Sophomore from Overland Park Blog Subject: Religion and Youth Ministry http://loveyouthministry.blogspot.com/
Jordan uses her blog to record her thoughts on youth ministry and to explain the life lessons she learns daily through Christ.
Why did you start writing this blog?
I started writing this blog particularly because I want to go into youth ministry one day, so it's fun writing about how Christ impacts my life in little and big ways every single day. I'm also a journalism major, so, like practicing my writing skills and incorporating the things I learn in my major into something that I love.
Why is it important for students to blog?
I think it's important for students to blog because we all have a story. We're all living for the story. And when we put our stories out there, it's cool to see how many people can relate to them.
Describe your blog in one sentence.
Overall, my blog is a way to share my story — the little stories of how Christ impacts my life every day.
RECYCLE
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734 Mass