January 11, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
PRESS CLIPPINGSBy Sam Kean
Forty-three nonprofit groups outdid all others in coupling philanthropic goals with business strategies, and their success has earned them recognition in Fast Company‘s fourth annual Social Capitalist Awards (December/January).
Of the 314 organizations considered for the survey, 43 earned grades of B or higher on a scale that considered five factors: aspiration and growth, entrepreneurship, innovation, social impact, and sustainability.
Eight earned A+ grades, including groups that provide small loans to poor people and charities, groups that fight poverty and starvation in Africa, and groups that recruit teachers and administrators for troubled schools.
First Book, a charity that has distributed 40 million books to needy students since 1992, was named Outstanding Social Entrepreneur for 2007.
First Book collaborates with publishers to secure free texts and is developing an online tool to connect literacy organizations with publishers to arrange for special printings of children’s books.
Articles about the charities that won awards are available at http://www.fastcompany.com/socap.
