Encouraged by the success of the book drive, the new partners decided to draft a business plan. The case is, new business model for profit b corporation is designed to combine profit and mission. Founded in 2002 by notre dame graduates facing the dotcom bust, better world books prides itself on being a triplebottomline company, focused on profit, literacy programs, and. They will donate money to africa and will raise fund for schools and libraries from the books they recycled. The better world books support team regularly services the drop boxes. Irish entrepreneurs better world books founder, esteem. By generating revenue to fund literacy, they would also earn. They recruited their friend and classmate jeff from the world of investment banking to help build the business. Better world books corporate office corporate office hq. For additional service, customers and partners may contact us. Better world books is an online bookseller of used and new books, founded in 2002 by university students. An awardwinning, forprofit social enterprise and a global eretailer that collects and sells used books online with a matching donation for each. See insights on better world books including office locations, competitors. Ive been searching through the website to check on it.
If you been keeping up with better world books, youve probably already met cofounder xavier helgesen and ceo david murphy in an assortment of interviews and blog posts. It was a dark and stormy night in south bend, indiana. Values customer focus we are driven to provide customers with a highlyvalued experience, and one. About the company better world books press and media. Better world books is an online seller of new and used books and textbooks. And in funding literacy, they would help give struggling people the world over the skills and selfesteem necessary to thrive and succeed.
As of april 2008, better world books partner with over 900 libraries and 1,679 college campuses across the u. Better world books, a young startup, provides a socially conscious alternative to amazon, collecting and selling used books to keep them out of the waste stream, while donating a portion of their profits to support global literacy efforts. What a great company and doing good things around the world. Better world books proposed they collect those books. The best better world books phone number with tools for skipping the wait on hold, the current wait time, tools for scheduling a time to talk with a better world books rep, reminders when the call center opens, tips and shortcuts from other better world books customers who called this number. Weight watchers founder jean nidetch was a wellfluencer long before those existed. Better world books is an online bookseller of used and new books, founded in 2002 by university students better world books used book inventory comes primarily from regular book drives at over 1,800 colleges and universities and donations from over 3,000 library systems, in addition to donation boxes found on corners and on college campuses. Since its founding in 2003, the company has raised millions for its nonprofit literacy and library partners. The one that came from scotland took a little longer of course but i was very happy that you were able to find it for me. College friends and ultimate frisbee teammates xavier and kreece were sitting around after graduation wondering what to do next. Fredrickson and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. So our goal is to help those who supply it and share it with those who crave it. How the founder of weight watchers changed the world and me. Oh yeah, great prices, fast delivery, unique titles and a generous return policy we ve got that too.
Another great experience from better another great experience from better world books. World of books is a secondhand book retailer, reported to be the united kingdoms largest. Founded in 2002 by three friends from the university of notre dame, better world books has made global literacy a cornerstone of its business. Industries ecommerce, ebooks, internet headquarters regions great lakes, midwestern us founded date 2003 founders christopher fuchs, jeff kurtzman. How and why one company chose to organize as a b corp. Every better world books purchase you make contributes. We have donated millions of books and raised millions of dollars to support literacy, libraries and education. Weaving jeans incredible story as weight loss maven and pathbreaking entrepreneur with marisas own journey through weight watchers, she chronicles the. An awardwinning, forprofit social enterprise and a global eretailer that collects and sells used books online with a. For better world books ceo and cofounder david murphy, a b is about as good as it gets. With more than eight million new and used titles in stock, better world books is a selfsustaining company that balances the social, economic and environmental values of its stakeholders. I have been purchasing books from bettter world books for years and have always had great experiences. Better world books company profile office locations, competitors. Marisa, also a contributor to the new yorker and the new york times, comes across an obituary for jean nidetch, the queens, new york housewife who founded weight watchers in 1963.
Better world books is a social enterprise, a notonlyforprofit company, often also known as. Better world books ships their books to different countries like india, uk, america, dubai, canada, australia and many other countries that are located in different part of the world. President and ceo david murphy explains that better world books makes a fiduciary commitment to its partners so that. Workbooks with no missing pages basically any book used in a college classroom highlighting or writing in books is fine so long as the text isnt obscured accompanying cds. And its not sacrificing hardcore business metrics to do it. Not everyone has access to a book the way you do, which is why better world books cares. You can donate your old or new read and unread books to them. How the founder of weight watchers changed the world. David murphy associate dean of entrepreneurship for. Their dream has been fulfilled and they are growing. Better world books employees are librarians, teachers, booksellers, collectors, advocates and more. He is also cofounder and chairman of better world books a triple. In fact, we wanted to build a similar experience here so that you can browse thousands of books easily from the comfort of. Better world books case study introduction better world books bwb is a feel good story about a dream of college entrepreneurs who wanted to make a difference in their community, impact the environment, and create a profitable company providing employment for hundreds of people.
Seven questions for better world books cofounder xavier. Quality bookseller with free shipping that donates a book for every book sold. The atlantabased bookseller was one of the first to earn the. Better world books ordered several used books, went to check out, credit card info entered, then delay was horrible, so cancelled credit card unknown unknown con artists. Better world books now owned by better world libraries. For every book you buy on, we donate one to someone who needs one. The company purchases books in bulk, paying by tonnage rather than for individual titles. Today, the company works with over 1,800 public library systems and close to 1,600 academic libraries.
The economy was in the gutter, the dot com boom had recently gone bust, and. Weaknesses strengths better world books synergy between business and social mission solid partnerships with five nonprofit organisations funding from good capital, local and large banks to aid in achieving scale advanced inventory technology excellent pr and social media. Better world books is a selfsustaining, forprofit social enterprise that collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives locally, nationally and around the world. The company promises 810% of its revenues, not profits, to its literacy partners. Our employees and leadership hail from many diverse educational persuasionswhile our founders are notre dame graduates, our ceo is an alabama fan. They say it takes all kinds, and better world books is no exception. Better world books started with a single college book drive on notre dames campus in 2002. Well now its time to meet our other cofounder, kreece fuchs. Better world books donated over 150,000 books in august, some of which went to the read more. Cofounded and acted as cfo of better world books for first 5 years. Media, president of the living economies forum, a member of the club of.
After selling their used textbooks online, they had an idea for their own online site, where people could freely buy and sell both new and used books of all kinds. I have purchased many special out of print books that i remember from my childhood. We are pleased to share their stories with you and collectively celebrate their victory. According to brewster kahle, founder and digital librarian at the internet archive. Which is why every action we take, and every book purchase you make helps fund it.
We speak at library conferences, have worked in or operated our own bookstores, are members of or board members on prestigious literacybased nonprofits, know how to value and sell rare. Cofounder kreece fuchs at left, and ceo andy perlmutter at right. Items ordered from better world books may be subject to tax in certain states, based on the state to which the order is shipped. They envisioned a different kind of company with a builtin social benefit. Well schedule the pickup immediately and dispatch a driver within 1 business day. Our idea was to collect books that the college bookstore didnt want and sell them online as a. Electric, a distributed renewable energy company operating in tanzania. Better world books is a forprofit social enterprise that collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide.
Irish entrepreneurs welcomes david murphy founder of better world books and now associate dean of entrepreneurship for the colleges of science and engineering and director, esteem graduate program, faculty, university of notre dame. Better world books case solution and analysis, hbr case. Before cofounding better world books, xavier founded and sold. Better world book is claiming that they collect book donations from library and schools for charity. Quality bookseller with free shipping that donates a book for every book sold explore history. This is your running tally of all the books youve helped get into their hands. Better world books, the young startup, provides sociallyconscious alternative to amazon, collecting and selling used books to keep them out of the wastestream, providing a portion of its profits to support global literacy efforts. Do you love to walk the aisles of a bookstore and browse while looking for that next captivating read. Better world books bwb case study messy oaks by john. Prior to his return to his alma mater, the university of notre dame, in november of 2011, david served as founding ceo and chairman of the board for better world books from its inception.
They buy unsold inventory of used books from uk charity shops, reselling them through their own website and on various online sites such as overview. Better world books is on its way to achieving its lofty mission to create a better world, one book at a time. Please pass along the unit number located on the drop box. Co founder, chief information and business development officer. If an item is subject to sales tax, in accordance with state tax laws, the tax is generally calculated on the total selling price of each individual item, including shipping and handling charges, giftwrap charges and. Our current partner charities are read international, the national literacy trust, room to read. With every purchase, the company gives a book to someone in need.
Better world books started out as an adventure in selling used textbooks online and quickly morphed into a bookseller with a social and environmental conscience. According to internet archive founder brewster brewster kahle, delivering the keynote speech at the opening morning of the conference, the. The websites from better wolrd book is flooding the search engines result. The alist please send these books to better world books college textbooks and study guides clean and legible condition with dates from the past 10 years. Oh yeah, great prices, fast delivery, unique titles and a generous. Better world books was founded in 2001 by three college friends, christopher fuchs, jeff kurtzman, and xavier helgesen. Today, better world books collects tens of thousands of books per day, given to the company by college students, libraries and other individuals. For the love of literacy better world books and the internet archive unite to preserve millions of books november 6, 2019for immediate release san francisco, california and mishawaka, indiana u.