What Are Social-Impact Books? – Books that benefit causes and nonprofits

Author Jason Johnson reads his children's book to a classroom of kids — Nonprofit founder Jason Johnson reads his story to a class of kids and the hero of the book — his retired police dog, Flash. This and Jason’s subsequent children’s book have raised tens of thousands of dollars for his organization.

We’re in business to get more social-impact books out into the world.

But what exactly do we mean by “social-impact books”?

These are books that:

Directly benefit nonprofits, causes, and social enterprises through raising awareness and raising funds to support their efforts;
Express thought leadership, guidance, and advice from social entrepreneurs and change-makers;
Tell the stories behind the nonprofits, causes, social enterprises, and the visionaries who started them;
Become seeds to spread the message; that are passed along, shared, and given; and that connect people to a cause; and/or
Create social motion — motivating readers to effect societal change.

And while there are many great online publications telling these stories, like Causeartist, we believe in the value of a book. Books are clearly not going away because there’s a lot to embrace in the deeper dive of a long-form narrative. Not only that, physical books serve as a very tangible form of connection in an overwhelmingly digital world — conveying a sense of permanence and value that digital media cannot. For this reason, books make an excellent vehicle to raise awareness and money for social-impact organizations, whether for-profit or non-profit.

For more on our vision of social-impact books, watch founder Andrew Chapman’s TEDx Talk.