Do you want to donate used books for the noble cause? If the answer is yes, then here are some of the best places that will help you to donate your used books.
If you love to read, then you might have collected lots of books. There must be some books that you don’t want to sell or donate, but what about those books that you don’t read anymore?
Do you want to keep them in your house? Yes, then you’re making a mistake.
There are thousands of people out there that want your books to read. By keeping them in your house, it is not benefiting anyone. By donating them, you’re allowing other people to read your books so that they could gain knowledge.
Therefore, you need to donate used books so that it can be beneficial for others.
Now, the biggest question that arises is where to donate your used books.
There are a few websites available that will allow you to donate used books. All you need to do is pick the best website that is suitable for you.
So, let’s see which are the best places to donate used books.
Where to Donate used Books?
1. Salvation Army
Salvation Army can be a very good place to donate your used books. It exists to meet human needs wherever, whenever, and however, they can. It has been around since 1865 and helps 25 million Americans and serves 128 countries around the world.
To donate used books to the Salvation Army, you need to find drop-off locations in your community on their website. Your donation can be helpful for the homeless and poor.
2. Goodwill
Goodwill can be another option to use in order to donate used books. If the Salvation Army doesn’t work for you, then you can try Goodwill as an alternative.
Your donations can help someone find a job, strengthen the community, and preserve the planet. They accept any type of donation including gently used books.
When you donate your new or gently used items, local Goodwill organizations sell them in stores or on shopgoodwill.com and use the revenue towards valuable employment training & job placement services. To know more about the donation process, visit their Donate Stuff section.
3. Books For Soldiers
As the name suggests, you can donate your books to soldiers that are serving in the U.S. military.
Books For Soldiers have been sending books to members of the U.S. military since Operation Desert Storm. You can send your books directly to the soldiers by using this website.
4. Operation Paperback
Operation Paperback is another website that you can use to donate used books to the soldiers. It has been around since 1999 to helping soldiers escape into a good book.
To donate used books, you need to become a volunteer shipper. For that, you need to register with them and accept their volunteer agreement. After that, you’ll be able to request addresses of troops and veterans using their automated system. Then you’ll be able to send books directly to the soldiers.
5. Books For Africa
If you want to help African children by donating used books, then you can use Books For Africa. You can send any type of books including fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, etc. Until now, they’ve delivered nearly 50 million books to Africa.
Here are book donation requirements:
- Popular fiction and nonfiction reading books (soft and hardcover).
- Books that are 15 years old or newer.
- Primary, secondary, and college textbooks (soft and hardcover) published in the last 15 years.
- Reference books published in the last 10 years, except encyclopedia sets.
- Medical, nursing, and IT books published in the last 10 years.
- Some Bibles or religious books, please place them in a box separate from other donations and mark the box as “Religious texts.” Bibles are sent only when requested by African recipients.
- School/office supplies—paper, pencils, pens, wall charts, maps, etc.
There are two ways to send your books to them such as mailing and drop-off books. It costs 50 cents to ship each book to Africa. So, you may help them financially. To know more about that, visit their Donate Books section.
6. Books Through Bars
If you want to donate your books to a prisoner, then you can do that via Books Through Bars. As you have to donate books to the prisoners, there are a few rules which you need to abide by.
Books Through Bars distributes free books and educational materials to incarcerated people in PA, NJ, NY, MD, DE, VA, WV. Per year, they send over 8,000 book packages.
To donate your books, you need to contact them either via email or phone call to specify:
- How many books (approximately) you intend to donate
- The condition of the books
- The subject matter/genre of the books
Here are a few things that you need to know before donating:
- We accept books only in new, good condition, or lightly used. (Please do not donate a book to us that you would not gift to a loved one.)
- We do not accept hardcover books. Many prisons do not accept them and they are expensive to mail.
- Please review the topics we are in need of (listed below). Other than the topics listed below, we will accept books on a case-by-case basis.
- Please donate books in a box or bag that you do not need to be returned to you.
To know more about donating books, visit their book donation section.
7. Books To Prisoners
Books To Prisoners works similarly to Books Through Bars. They are mailing free books to incarcerated individuals since 1973.
At the time of writing, they’re not accepting books donation. However, you can send them the most popular requested books such as dictionaries, thesauruses, native American studies, GED materials, foreign language books etc.
8. Better World Books
Better World Books works similarly to Goodwill. They collect books and sell them online. After that, they donate profits to fund literacy initiatives around the world. As of now, nearly 30 million books donated to them, and funds raised for literacy & libraries over $31 million.
To know about the donation process, visit their donation section. Your books must meet their requirements.
9. Pickup Please
If you want to donate a large number of books, then you should use Pickup Please’s donation program. Your donation makes a big difference in the lives of America’s Veterans and their families.
You can donate textbooks, magazines, hardcore books, softcover, children’s books, etc. To donate your books, you need to complete three different steps such as:
- Schedule a donation pickup online by using their scheduling form.
- Leave your bags or boxes of your donated items outside your house on the pickup day. Also, you need to label your boxes by “VVA Donation Pickup” so that their driver can know what to pick up.
- Their driver will pick up your donation and leave a tax deduction receipt for you. Even you don’t have to be at your home while picking up.
10. Local Libraries
The last option that you have is local libraries. You can approach your local libraries to know whether they’re looking for used books or not. Most libraries accept used books.
Important things to do before donating used books
Now, you know where to donate used books. Let’s talk about a few things that you need to do before donating used books.
#1 Check the condition of your books
If you want to donate something to anyone, you have to give something that is in a good condition. For example, if anyone donates you a book that is totally damaged, will you love it? No, right.
Like that, before donating your books, you need to make sure your books are in a good condition. If you have books with torn pages, ripped covers, water damaged, then nobody is going to accept them.
Therefore, before sending the books, make sure to check the condition of your books whether they’re in good condition or not.
#2 Check the requirement list
Before donating books to any site, you need to check their requirements like what they’ll accept and what they’ll not. By doing this, you can make sure your books will be accepted.
Most of the sites, don’t accept books that are in very bad condition. If your book’s condition is good, then you can look for another requirement is the genre.
WrapUp
As you can see, there are lots of options available to donate used books. By donating your books, you can help people to gain knowledge and happiness.
Therefore, if you have lots of books lying around your house, you should consider donating them so that more people can be benefited.
Hopefully, this article helped you to know where to donate used books. If you love this article, then share it with your friends and families.
Recommended Articles:
Leave a Reply