Years: 2019

Indies with Impact Bookstore Grants

U.S. (2019)

Together with the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc), in 2019 we announced a new grant opportunity for independent bookstores. Indies with Impact honored two bookstores that work in tandem with a community nonprofit or organization of their choice in a program that strengthens their local communities and encourages a passion for reading. We launched this grant to recognize, support, and strengthen the already robust connections bookstores have with their communities. To learn more, click here. To learn more about our 2019 winner, click here.

$20,000 in Grants to Promote Reading

NEW ZEALAND (2019)

To celebrate Puffin’s 80th anniversary, we awarded $20,000 in grants to local booksellers who are passionate about encouraging young readers in their community. We received an incredible range of entries with proposed initiatives and programs that showed a clear commitment to improve children’s literacy within local communities. Four booksellers were awarded $5,000 each to implement their proposals, which ranged from encouraging teenage parents to read, to supporting struggling readers, to making books accessible to kids in rural communities and homes without books. To learn more about our winning booksellers, click here.

Internships for Afro-Australian Students

AUSTRALIA (2019)

In 2019, we successfully introduced a new approach to internships in order to provide underrepresented groups better opportunities to explore the publishing industry and consider publishing as a possible career path. We partnered with the Afro-Australian Student Organisation in Victoria and New South Wales—a group that provides opportunities that improve the academic, professional, and personal development of African and African Australian students in Australia—to seek candidates for our paid internship program. Successful candidates have the opportunity to gain a broad understanding of publishing, spending 120 hours rotating through different departments and learning how a book goes to publication and beyond.

DK’s Sustainability Working Party

DK’s global Sustainability Working Party was created to deliver plans on sustainability as volunteers from our offices around the world meet monthly to create and execute our global strategy. The meetings also act as a forum to discuss ideas that will drive forward sustainability initiatives. We also have local colleague-led Green committees dedicated to encouraging sustainable behaviors among colleagues, including reducing printing and single-use plastic. These committees also participate in local and global events throughout the year to raise awareness about environmental causes, such as Earth Day and World Environment Day.

Response to Australian Bushfire Crisis

In late 2019 and early 2020, Australia was ravaged by the worst bushfires ever experienced in the country. Across four states, lives and livelihoods were lost, homes destroyed, and our wildlife and their natural habitats critically impacted. PRH Australia, with the support of PRH Canada and PRH U.S., raised $75,000 through fundraising events across all sites, and that money was subsequently distributed to Australia Red Cross and wildlife rescue organizations in the most severely impacted states of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.

Conversion to Renewable Energy Credits

We successfully made the transition to purchasing Renewable Energy Credits at our distribution center in Westminster, Maryland, offsetting 100% of its electrical usage and making it possible to support clean energy. Both of our warehouses in the United States now purchase wind credits to offset 100% of their power. Our offices in the United Kingdom also completed their transition to renewable energy in October 2018, and our New York City headquarters is on track to reach 100% wind energy credits by the end of 2020.

Reduction of Packaging Waste

We have been making conscious efforts to reduce our packing materials. In our Returns department, we’ve programmed our shipping machine to create custom-sized cartons for returned books that need to be put back in inventory. This machine creates shipping cartons in the exact sizes required to hold the books, which means that we use less corrugate and no plastic bubble packing material to fill in empty spaces. If needed, we use our “ravioli” packaging to create filler, which is 100% curbside recyclable. In general, this machine has helped us greatly reduce our packaging waste.

Company Initiatives for Climate Week NYC

NEW YORK, NY (2019)

Run by the Climate Group, Climate Week NYC is a place for the world to showcase amazing climate action and discuss how to do more. We supported the weeklong event with our Sustainability Subcommittee holding a series of events and learning opportunities for our colleagues. We had the opportunity to participate in our ongoing company-wide sustainability efforts with activities such as a PRH Green Book Club in-house author event, a mug drive to reduce single-use cups, and Green Mindful Moments, which are short themed company posts that provide tips for ways we can exercise more conscious, sustainable practices in our day-to-day work lives.