Millions of American children lack sufficient access to reading material according to Kyle Zimmer, cofounder of First Book, a not-for-profit organization that matches books with low income students. First Book is designed to remedy the solution by connecting business donors, educators, and families with a tangible and traceable benefit -- the simple book.
Growing out of a simple idea meant adopting best practices from businesses and working with partners, as in one particular case that Zimmer mentions, the US Coast Guard. She encourages young social entrepreneurs to adopt a fearless attitude if they want their ideas to ultimately scale. This means addressing supply chains, making critical self-evaluations, and working with sponsors to find what sort of support they need such as a donation from a tax write-off or building a positive profile.
Kyle Zimmer and two colleagues founded First Book in 1992, distributing 12,000 books in three communities. She has served in the federal liaison office for Ohio Governor Richard Celeste. After graduating from The George Washington University National Law Center, Zimmer entered legal practice where she represented a wide spectrum of clients.
Zimmer began serving full time as President of First Book in 1993. She serves as a member of the International Board of Directors of both Ashoka and Youth Venture, which works to inspire social entrepreneurs of the next generation. Most recently, in November 2006, Zimmer was named Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Year in the United States by the Geneva-based Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
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