Better World Books: Online Company Changes World 1 Book At A Time

Better World Books, an online bookseller, has raised $6,500,000 for global literacy and saved 25,150,000 books from landfills since Better World Books was founded in 2002. In June 2009, Better World, which calls itself "an online book company with a soul", was nominated as the most promising social entrepreneur in the United States by BusinessWeek.

Better World Books was founded by Xavier Helgesen, Kreece Fuchs, and Jeff Kurtzman, who were students at Notre Dame University in when they decided to find a way to make profits from used textbooks.

As a result of their successful sales on eBay, the three friends began to hold book drives. In 2002, for example, they collected 2,000 text books at a book drive and resold then in the fall for $20,000.

Eventually, the founders expanded beyond textbooks and started to collect books from libraries. They distributed a pamphlet at an American Library Association conference and, soon, began to receive twice as many books from libraries as from text book drives.

Better World Books currently has more than 2 million books in its warehouse in Indiana on an average day and sells between 40,000 and 50,000 everyday. The business is growing, in spite of the recession.

Better World Books also ships its books with a minimal eco-footprint by offsetting carbon emissions through a partnership with carbonfund.org.