Mindy Klasky October 25th 2007

Doing Well by Doing Good

When I finished writing Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft, I decided that I wanted to use it, in part, to do something good - I wanted to donate some of my profits from the book to a charity. Applying my librarian skills for good instead of for evil, I started to research charities, looking for something that did work I believed in with an efficiency that I could admire.

And so I found First Book.

First Book is a national charity that gives underprivileged children their first new books to own forever. They distribute books throughout the United States. They work with libraries, schools, and churches to distribute their books, many of which are donated by publishers. Their overhead costs are right around 3% (including all staff salaries, promotion, mailings, etc.) They consistently receive the highest ratings by organizations that review charities for efficiency and fairness.

I was impressed with everything that I read about First Book. I contacted them, and I met with several of their staff people. I decided that I would donate 10% of my profits on Girl’s Guide. (Down the road, when our relationship was working so well, I decided to add 10% of my profits on Sorcery and the Single Girl.)

First Book continues to do great work. They distributed millions of books in the Gulf Area, following Hurricane Katrina, and I’m sure that they’re even now figuring out what they can do to help in Southern California after the fires finally burn out.

First Book recognizes that it’s in their best interest for me to sell as many books as possible. To that end, they include my books in their online store. They provide me with donated Google Adwords (those search terms that generate the grey “sponsored” links on Google) for hundreds of words - search those phrases on Google, and a link to my First Book online store page appears in the sponsored links section. First Book employees have shown up at my readings, at signings, and at other promotional events.

In short, this is a partnership that works.

What charities do you embrace in your daily life? Do they relate to your reading or writing in any way?

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