Though students don’t necessarily use FreeTextbooks because of our social impact, we are committed to donating $1 per book purchased or rented. We also allow customers the opportunity to donate $1 or more during the checkout process. Earlier this year, I blogged about our general thoughts on charity & how we hope to harness the goodwill of our customers to meet humanity’s most basic needs around the U.S. and world (see: How We Help: Our Mission of Social Responsibility). Regardless of profits, our entire company understands & supports the importance of this commitment and it’s been exciting to see our employees associate the increase in sales with increased charitable involvement.

In addition, we want to be an open company. We want customers to know who we are, our values, ideas, or problems, and I want this blog to be an expression of that.

So, here is a look at our charitable giving for fall 2009. This was only possible through our wonderful customers, so if you bought books from us, be proud! This is just the beginning…

• Provided 4,809 meals for food-insecure American families through Feeding America.
• Gave 28 people clean drinking water for 20 years through charity: water’s freshwater well projects.
• Donated $291 for books & supplies to underprivileged classrooms through Room to Read.
• Provided vaccinations against meningitis, measles, & polio for 552 people through Doctors Without Borders.

Finally, through one of our newest partners, DonorsChoose.org, we donated books to second graders in a high-poverty Alabama classroom. Here’s a thank you letter from the teacher, Mrs. Hope (or see it, here)

Dear FreeTextbooks,
I am so excited. I know it is almost Christmas, but it feels like Christmas to me today. Wow! I cannot wait to tell my students that we will be getting a lot of new books for our classroom library. By the time children reach second grade, most of them are reading well and really enjoy it. It is important to me to have a wide variety of books on different levels for my children. You have helped make this available. I am thankful for your support of education and reading through donors choose. If it were not for Donors Choose, I would not have this wonderful opportunity to get more materials, like books, for my classroom. Once again, thank you very much! Your donation is greatly appreciated.
With gratitude,
 Mrs. H.

That wraps it up. We’re currently working on site improvements, building on-campus buyback relationships, and preparing for December & January! Get ready – big improvements are coming.