Random House opens its books with $1M donation

Source: Newsday Inc

Random House is loosening its purse strings with a $1 million donation to First Book, a nonprofit literacy organization. The gift, a multiyear commitment announced today, is the largest single philanthropic contribution ever made by the house, the world's largest trade book publisher.

Established in 1992, First Book has distributed more than 50 million new books to children from low-income famlies. Over the last 10 years, Random House Children's Books has donated more than 13 million copies of its publications, according to the company's announcement.

In addition to the corporate donation, Random House has set up a matching gift program for First Book. In a memo to employees, Peter W. Olson, the company's chairman and CEO, explains that the company will equal any employee's personal contribution up to $2,500. It will also match contributions up to $1,000 each from authors, illustrators, vendors, literary agents and booksellers, the memo says.

"Of all the many charitable, cultural, and literacy organizations our company enthusiastically supports, none is more cherished by us for its life-changing impact than First Book," Olson writes in his memo.