December 4, 2019
Penguin Random House is committed to supporting bookstores, which provide a source of community, information, and imagination. This year, we are partnering with the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) on their year-end fundraising campaign, which launched on Small Business Saturday, November 30. To double the power and impact of individual donations, Penguin Random House is matching all donations made to Binc through December 31, 2019.
expand
Looking for an additional way to give back? On Instagram and Twitter, share pictures and stories of your favorite bookstores, books you picked up there, or post a shout-out to your favorite indie employee or owner. When you include the hashtag
#BookstoresAreHolidays, we will donate $1 to Binc. Through both of these initiatives, PRH will donate up to $15,000, which will directly help bookstores in need.
Binc continues to receive calls and emails from booksellers impacted by the wildfires and power outages in California and also assists booksellers recovering from personal financial hardships like a cancer diagnosis, dental needs, mental health and recovery, and natural disasters.
Jaci Updike, President, Sales, Penguin Random House said, “Our hearts go out to those booksellers whose lives have been upended by local natural disasters or personal illness, so it is a privilege for us to align with the Binc Foundation to raise funds to support our retail partners in need. We urge our colleagues and our community to join together in giving all we can toward making a real impact in the lives of people we care about.”
Binc recently reported in its 2019 survey results that 1 in 5 booksellers has experienced a financial emergency in the last two years. The need for assistance is high in the bookselling community and continues to grow. A total of $30,000 raised by the end of the year will help 13 booksellers and their families through economic hardship. Binc has already assisted nearly 90 booksellers and their families this year alone.
If you would like to contribute, please click here.
December 3, 2019
Today, Penguin Random House joins with Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to announce that the company will donate an additional 300,000 children’s books to First Book, building upon its previously announced donation of one million of its children’s books to First Book in the Obama family’s name. Plans for the one million donation were originally announced in 2017 when Penguin Random House acquired world publication rights to publish books by President and Mrs. Obama.
expand
In celebration of the completion of the one-million-book donation in the Obama family name, Penguin Random House announces that it will donate up to 300,000 additional children’s books to First Book as part of the
Hope Love Give campaign to raise one million dollars to help give one million books to kids who need them most. For every three dollars donated to First Book from now through December 31, Penguin Random House will give two new books to First Book, up to 300,000 books.
Last year, during her highly successful book tour, Mrs. Obama made a surprise visit to the Para Los Niños Tina and Rick Caruso Early Education Center, an organization located in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles that receives program support from Child360, to spend time and read with a group of four-year-old children. Child360 was one of the first recipients to receive books from the company’s one-million-book donation to First Book.
Markus Dohle, CEO, Penguin Random House, said: “We are honored to donate one million children’s books in the Obama family’s name to First Book. When children have greater access to our books and stories, we, together with President and Mrs. Obama, are helping to shape a literate, educated, and democratic society that will become the next generation of readers and leaders.”
The Penguin Random House donations to First Book in the Obama family name were made in support of the continued publishing partnership between the company and the authors as a reflection of their shared commitment to social responsibility and to promoting literacy and education. First Book, a longstanding Penguin Random House non-profit partner, is dedicated to promoting equal access to education by providing new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need in the United States and Canada.
September 6, 2019
As part of our company’s ongoing social impact efforts and in support of Amazon Day on September 5 in Brazil, Penguin Random House and Companhia das Letras announced yesterday a joint donation to the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).
expand
"We at Penguin Random House, together with our colleagues at Companhia das Letras, will make a donation to ISA as part of a worldwide solidarity effort for sustainability and environmental protection, and to support the institution's fundamental work in defense of the Amazon and indigenous peoples,” said
Markus Dohle, CEO, Penguin Random House.
"We are very proud of Penguin Random House's initiative to donate to an institution of the importance of the ISA, which has always defended the Amazon. This is how we reaffirm the work of publishers, always alongside the good causes," said
Luiz Schwarcz, the CEO and founder of Companhia das Letras.
For 25 years, ISA has been working to achieve a balance between society and nature and to value Brazil's rich socio-environmental diversity. Side by side with indigenous communities, quilombolas and extractivists, historical partners, it develops projects that protect their territories, strengthen their traditional cultures and knowledge, foster their political leadership and develop sustainable economic alternatives to the predatory exploitation of their lands. ISA has offices and permanent teams in four Amazonian states and a long-term commitment to partners in the Xingu and Rio Negro regions, as well as the Vale do Ribeira (SP), and offices in Brasília and São Paulo.
For those who would like to join with Penguin Random House and Companhia das Letras to make a donation in support of the Amazon, please refer to the list of nonprofits, funds, and services
here.
December 18, 2017
Dear Colleagues,
As 2017 comes to a close, I have been reflecting on our role and responsibility as publishers. In today’s divided world, books matter more than ever. Books, we know, have the power to connect and transform us. As a global community of book lovers, we are passionate about making a positive difference in the world. And I believe we do: with our publishing and through our corporate citizenship. Both drive the social impact we have as Penguin Random House. Today, I am pleased to be writing to share our first-ever Social Impact Highlights Summary, which showcases how our company operates responsibly and complements our publishing efforts by going beyond the day-to-day activities of the business to give back to our communities, both locally and globally, across our territories.
expand
One of my strongest convictions is that our social responsibility efforts are essential to who we are and what we do as Penguin Random House. From championing freedom of expression and creativity, to promoting diversity and inclusion, to reducing our carbon footprint, we have set forth a number of 2020 Commitments that we are working hard to achieve through in-house initiatives and programs and through our partnerships with local and global nonprofit organizations. You’ll see some of these featured in our Highlights Summary. This good work, coupled with the brilliant books we publish every day, has ensured our meaningful and positive social impact in the world.
Thank you for connecting our books with readers who learn from them, escape with them, and cherish them like we do. And thank you for embracing our collective responsibility to defend free speech, lift up marginalized voices, protect our earth, and help those in need. I am very proud of what we have accomplished together thus far, and am excited about our potential to do even more in 2018.
I wish you a peaceful, relaxing, and enjoyable year-end break with your friends and family.
Happy Reading,
Penguin Random House is committed to supporting bookstores, which provide a source of community, information, and imagination. This year, we are partnering with the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) on their year-end fundraising campaign, which launched on Small Business Saturday, November 30. To double the power and impact of individual donations, Penguin Random House is matching all donations made to Binc through December 31, 2019.
Today, Penguin Random House joins with Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to announce that the company will donate an additional 300,000 children’s books to First Book, building upon its previously announced donation of one million of its children’s books to First Book in the Obama family’s name. Plans for the one million donation were originally announced in 2017 when Penguin Random House acquired world publication rights to publish books by President and Mrs. Obama.
As part of our company’s ongoing social impact efforts and in support of Amazon Day on September 5 in Brazil, Penguin Random House and Companhia das Letras announced yesterday a joint donation to the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).
Dear Colleagues,