Partners for the Common Good

First Book, Washington, D.C.

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First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to introduce children from low-income families to the magic of reading by giving them the opportunity to read and to own their first new books. Founded in 1992, the organization has provided 50 million books to children in more than 3,000 communities nationwide.

In 2004, First Book launched First Book Marketplace, an online store that sells high-quality children’s books and educational materials at deeply discounted prices to organizations serving children from low-income families. Although Marketplace proved to be a success, its management realized that without an injection of capital, they would not be able to raise money quickly enough to buy the inventory they needed. They approached Partners for the Common Good (PCG) for a loan for working capital.
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Based in Washington, D.C., PCG is a nonprofit community development loan fund dedicated to promoting economic justice and social change by providing access to debt capital to community-based ventures that advance the common good. As a national wholesale participation lender, PCG partners with CDFIs across the nation to finance working capital, affordable housing, community facility, and commercial revitalization projects. The organization also provides loans to international microfinance and fair trade organizations based in the United States.

In 2007, PCG organized the syndication of a $1.5 million working capital loan for First Book among three lending partners: the Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Calvert Foundation, and PCG itself. First Book Marketplace used the loan to increase inventory and to hire new staff.

And it has made all the difference. In just two months, Marketplace increased its inventory from 100 titles to 400. “We now have over a million books in inventory and we’re really reaching kids in new and profound ways,” says Chandler Arnold, Executive Director of First Book Marketplace. “PCG really helped us take our organizational model to the next level.”

Jeannine Jacokes was appointed Executive Director of Partners for the Common Good (PCG) in 2001. PCG finances nonprofit organizations and businesses that create opportunity for low-income people.
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