MISHAWAKA, IN - April 25, 2007 "“ BetterWorld Books (www.betterworldbooks.com) a social enterprise that sells new and used books online, celebrated this week surpassing $2 million raised for approximately 80 non-profit organizations addressing literacy and education worldwide.

Benefiting from the $2 million in unrestricted funds are Books for Africa ($1.2 million), Room to Read ($203,000), The National Center for Family Literacy ($230,000), and a host of other literacy organizations including the New Orleans Public Library system.

BetterWorld Books was born in 2003 from 3 Notre Dame college friends who realized the potential of their used college textbooks for good when they sold them to benefit the then struggling Robinson Community Learning Center in South Bend.

Books are collected for BetterWorld Books through book drives on over 1,000 college campuses and 500 libraries and are then sold on different websites and the BetterWorld.com website to benefit literacy partners and the service group or library running the drive.

"It is a great fit. People can come to BetterWorld.com, shop for a good deal on a used book, get free shipping, and support literacy worldwide," says Co-Founder Xavier Helgesen. Helgesen also designed the software called Indaba that enables BetterWorld Books to sell books across multiple marketplaces including Amazon.com and Half.com. BetterWorld Books has rapidly grown to become the #2 used book seller on Amazon.com Marketplace.

In addition to offering unrestricted funds to numerous literacy organizations, BetterWorld Books:

• Sent more than 460,000 books to Books for Africa, National Center for Family Literacy and Feed the Children.
  
• Saved over 8 million pounds of books from landfills.
  
• Allowed customers to offset 150 tons of carbon with "Carbon Free Shipping" for their books.
  
• Salvaged nearly 700,000 pounds of shelving from Public libraries.
  
• Raised more than $780,000 for Public Libraries and Thrift Stores nationwide.

About BetterWorld.com
BetterWorld.com is the retail website for BetterWorld Books. On BetterWorld.com customers can shop over 2 million new and used titles, shop by genre, cause, or search by author, title, or subject. Every order on BetterWorld.com benefits a predetermined literacy partner, is shipped for free to US customers ($2.97 worldwide), and is shipped carbon neutral with an offset by the Carbon Free Fund.

Better World Books

Better World Books

About Better World Books: BetterWorld Books (www.betterworldbooks.com) began with three college friends (Class of 2001; University of Notre Dame) who formed a for-profit social venture - a business with the mission to promote literacy locally, nationally and around the world. Starting from one single book drive at the University of Notre Dame, the organization has grown into a nationwide effort with 130+ employees and thousands of people involved, all looking to improve the quality of life for people through literacy. About BetterWorld.com: BetterWorld.com is the retail website for BetterWorld Books. On BetterWorld.com customers can shop over 2 million new and used titles, shop by genre, cause, or search by author, title, or subject. Every order on BetterWorld.com benefits a predetermined literacy partner, is shipped for free to US customers ($2.97 worldwide), and is shipped carbon neutral with an offset by the Carbon Free Fund.

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