OO.com Celebrates Literacy with Room to Read Starting this September

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OO.com, a leading shopping site for top brands and giving back with every purchase, has helped over 1,600 public school classrooms nationwide in just 10 months. Over $1.2MM has been donated to date. Seeing how quickly they were able to make an impact in such a short period of time, OO.com is inspired to do more and is expanding to support international education with the announcement of their new charity partner, Room to Read, a global nonprofit organization that believes World Change Starts with Educated Children. In the spirit of International Literacy Day, observed worldwide on September 8, OO.com is proud to announce this partnership with Room to Read.

“OO.com is a vehicle for good. We have the ability to use the power of business to dramatically impact the world in a positive way. Use OO.com when you eat, when you travel, when you shop, and you are automatically donating to help support education. We make GIVING BACK easy.”

Both OO.com and Room to Read firmly believe in the transformative power of literacy and gender equality in education. As kids in the U.S. head back to school, September is the perfect time to bring to light the huge gaps in worldwide literacy; 793 million people across the globe lack the ability to read and write, the majority of which live in the developing world. Room to Read and OO.com are joining forces throughout September and beyond to not only raise awareness about this issue, but to show shoppers how they can easily make a difference to change the world.

MAKING GIVING AUTOMATIC – With OO.com, giving is a part of everyday life. A donation is automatically made every time a shopper makes a purchase on OO.com, without any additional cost to the consumer. Shoppers can now choose which project they would like to support and follow the impact their charity-supported purchases are making in the lives of youth worldwide. Room to Read projects focus on education across Asia and Africa and vary from helping to establish a library or school or supporting a girl to complete secondary school with key life skills.

HOW IT WORKS – An OO.com shopper makes a purchase from one of the 30,000 top retail brands offered, and OO.com donates 1% of every purchase to support the cause of your choice, without any additional cost to the consumer. Simply go to OO.com, click "SUPPORT" to select a cause of choice including Room to Read, and shop as you would normally; a donation is then made automatically by OO.com.

With OO.com, giving is a part of everyday life. Now shoppers will be able to help make an impact on literacy and gender equality worldwide by supporting Room to Read. Shoppers can choose to support Room to Read, shop at brands such as Bloomingdales, Best Buy, and Priceline.com thru OO.com, and by doing that, automatically make a difference in the lives of children around the world.

Since 2000, Room to Read has provided more than six million children with increased access to high-quality educational opportunities through its network of libraries and schools, local language children’s books and its Girls’ Education program. Room to Read is changing children’s lives in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia and aims to reach 10 million children by 2015.

“What excites us most about our partnership with OO.com is the ability to harness the collective buying power of retail shoppers to give children the opportunity to learn,” says John Wood, founder and board co-chair of Room to Read. “It’s a win-win concept and we hope the OO.com community will choose to support our efforts to help millions more children receive an education and ultimately reach their full potential.”

Charlie Kim, Founder & CEO of Next Jump, believes that charitable giving is the new form of marketing. He defines this as “social commerce.” Kim says, “OO.com is a vehicle for good. We have the ability to use the power of business to dramatically impact the world in a positive way. Use OO.com when you eat, when you travel, when you shop, and you are automatically donating to help support education. We make GIVING BACK easy.”

Join OO.com and Room to Read in honoring the power of education on International Literacy Day. Visit OO.com today.

About OO.com, a Next Jump Company:

OO.com is Next Jump’s consumer facing shopping site. Founded in 1994, Next Jump is positioned to become the universal loyalty platform for the internet, leveraging proprietary technology engineered over the last decade. The Company already has the largest footprint in providing rewards and loyalty programs to more than 90,000 corporations, organizations, and affinity groups including 70% of the Fortune 1000 and the largest membership clubs in the country, including AARP, NEA and AAA. Next Jump's WOWPoints™ is one of the fastest growing virtual currencies due to its cash-like value and flexibility. Consumers are able to earn and burn WOWPoints™ through all Next Jump powered marketplaces, including OO.com, the Company’s first direct to consumer site. Next Jump was founded by Charlie Kim and is based in New York City with offices in Boston, San Francisco and London. For more information visit www.nextjump.com.

About Room to Read

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in the developing world by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls have the skills and support needed to complete their secondary education. Learn more at www.roomtoread.org.