Lovers of books know how hard it can be to manage those big piles of books and they often wonder where to donate books that are no longer needed? I mean buying and reading the books is definitely very satisfying but when you don’t have any place to store them, you search for the place to send or donate them in order to make space for your new ones.
Most people are also willing to donate their books because they want to help a good cause and it is better to provide the used books to the needy instead of piling them on your desk. Interestingly enough there are a lot of places where you can donate your used books, somewhere where it is much needed and required.
Donating the books is obviously a far better idea than selling them or throwing them away (which one should never do whatsoever). In this article we are going to list the place where donating books would be a good idea and this way you will not send your books to a better place but you will also be doing a noble act.
Following we have listed about 20 places where you can send your books and they will accept it as a donation:
1. Goodwill
Goodwill is a non-profit organization that works dedicatedly to help people who are struggling with their own barriers to obtaining a job. These organizations provide them with job training, employment placement services, and other community-based programs.
Donating your book to the goodwill organizations will be for a good cause. You can find your local goodwill organizations and contact them for donating the books. They have no trouble in accepting the books sent by people.
2. Local Charities
I am sure there will be several charities around the place where you live, you can also contact these charities to donate the books. For example an orphanage, you can help the kids by giving them your old books. To locate the local charities in your area you can take the help of the internet, and once you find the listing you can contact them for the purpose.
Most of these organizations also offer free pick up services, if not either you can send the book to their address and visit the place yourself for donating books. I mean what better deed it will be than to help the needy.
3. The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is famous worldwide for its humanitarian work. They are known to be the world’s largest provider of social aid. This organization works by collecting the donated items from the people and selling them to the people through thrift stores and red donation kettles. The fund collected by this act is used for various noble purposes.
Like, Adult Rehabilitation Centres, helping the homeless by giving them home and shelter, helping the elderly, disabled people, etc. The motive of the salvation army is to help people without discrimination. They are known for helping people who have fallen in hard times and are helpless.
You can find the various donation centers of the Salvation army on the internet or your local area where you can donate your books. Apart from this, the organization also offers a pickup service where you can schedule your pickup and they will visit you at your home to take the books.
4. Local libraries
Local libraries are another good place to donate your used books. All you need to do is locate all the libraries in your area and contact them to ask if they will be accepting your books. Sometimes the libraries do not have the space to store the books and most of them are only looking for specifics so that is why it is important to ask in advance if they will accept the donation.
Apart from this, the libraries also arrange the community book sale. So you can also collect the information about whether they will be organizing the book sale in the near future and would it be possible for them to accept your books. And that’s about it.
5. Habitat for Human ReStores
Habitat for Human ReStores is another non-profit organization. They are basically home improvement stores and donation centers. The things that are donated to the Habitat for Human ReStores are used to help the local communities by providing them shelter, strength, stability, etc. These organizations are spread worldwide.
You can check the website of Habibat for Human ReStores to find out the locations near you. These organizations will accept your books and donating to them will be like helping a good cause.
6. Vietnam Veterans of America
The Vietnam Veterans of America is a non-profit organization that works dedicatedly in order to serve the veterans and take care of their needs. The organization is not associated with the government and works individually. You can help this organization by donating the things that you don’t need but will be of great help to these veterans.
The Vietnam Veterans of America provides a very convenient pickup service where they visit your home to pick up the things that you are donating. You can collect more information about it by checking out their website for pickup service in your area.
7. Kids Need to Read
Kids Need to Read is a national non-profit organization of the United States of America. This organization deals with childhood literacy and works towards providing children with a culture of reading. Kids Need to Read works by providing the books to the committees that serve the disadvantaged children unfunded schools, literacy programs and libraries across the United States of America.
Kids Need to Read will accept your used books but make sure they are not in a very bad condition or visibly damaged. You can visit their website for more information.
8. Local Theatres
Local Theatres and museums only accept some specific books so you need to contact them and check what kind of books are they willing to accept. In most cases, they are looking for some historical books. So if you are a collector of historical books, there is a good chance they will accept the books. As the history books are often used in the local theatres as props and in the museum they are used for display exhibits.
9. Retirement Homes
Retirement Homes is another place on the list where you can donate the books. Retirement homes which are called an old people’s home are intended for the elderly and are a multi-resident housing facility. In order to donate your books here, you first need to contact them for checking whether they accept the books because you don’t want your donation to be a burden.
In order to find your local retirement homes, you can google the title and as a result, you will find numerous listing. You can contact these organizations on their contact number or even visit them for further information.
10. Books for Africa
Books for Africa is a non-profit organization that works dedicatedly towards providing the children based in Africa with books from all over the world. The organization works by collecting, sorting, shipping, and distributing books to children belonging to Africa.
The organization has its headquarters in the different parts of the world such as St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, and warehouses in St. Paul and Atlanta, Georgia, etc. Books for Africa works for providing the books to the students of all ages to Africa. You can gain further knowledge about how to donate by visiting their official website.
11. Reader to Reader
Reader to Reader, Inc. is a non-profit organization that promotes reading at all ages and is devoted to increasing literacy. There are millions of people that are getting benefitted from this organization and they are keeping up the good work for ages.
Donating your books to Reader to Reader, Inc is a great idea, the organization also held the book donation programs where you can donate the books. Apart from this, you can send the books directly to their location. Reader to Reader, Inc also develops partnerships with the schools to approach more and more students.
12. Prison Book Programs
Next on the list, we have the Prison Book Programs. The Prison Book Programs are designed for providing free books to the prisoners. It is a grassroots organization that serves the prisoners by helping them with some books. You can contact them by visiting their official website.
Apart from giving free books to the prisoners. the organization also provides you with a list of local organizations in your area that are doing the same charitable work. Find the list here.
13. African Library Projects
The African Library Project is another non-profit organization on the list that is doing the charitable work for serving the needy. This project is known for starting the libraries in the rural part of Africa. The African library project works by creating libraries by organizing the shipment of used books that are not too damaged.
This organization takes help from the book drives that take place in the United States. You can collect the information about the local drive happening in your area and donate the books there. Or you also have the option of organizing your own for the purpose.
14. Better Worlds Books
Better Worlds Books is an online bookseller of new and used books. It was founded by university students in the year 2002. The organization collects the donated books and sells them online with the help of their website. The funds collected after the selling of these books are used to fund literacy initiatives worldwide.
You can visit their official website for finding further information about their donation process by clicking here.
15. Books through Bars
Books through Bars is another non-profit organization on the list. The organization is based in America and works by providing some reading material to the prisoners in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Books through Bars also deals with providing sufficient knowledge about imprisonment to the people.
You can learn about their donation programs by clicking here. The organization that was founded in the year 1990 is still working dedicatedly for the welfare of the people.
16. Books for Soldiers
Books for soldiers, an organization which is also known by other names like Operation Paperback is a military charity. that collects the second-hand books, that are gently used and sends them to the Americal troops overseas. Books for Soldiers are dedicated to the shipment and supplying of the donated books to the deployed military personnel, soldiers, sailors, etc.
The books are sent to them for morale, welfare, recreational purposes. They also provide books to veterans and military families here at home. In order to start donating already, you can sign up by clicking on this link.
17. Freecycle
The Freecycle network is again a non-profit organization that deals with providing the stuff for free for those who are in need. It is basically a connecting link between the person who is donating the stuff and the people who are in a need of it. The organization deals on the online platforms and to collect further information about it you can visit their official website by clicking here.
18. BookMooch
Bookmooch is an international online book exchange community that was founded in the year 2006. This is a great option for the people who are expecting to receive a book back in exchange for their donations. It is spread over to 90 countries worldwide and you can visit their official website to collect more information by clicking here.
19. Re-book it
Re-book it is basically a free service provided by a community in Los Angeles and Southern California. The community works by picking up the books that you intend to donate for free and will provide it to someone who is in a need of it. They provide these books to the benefitting libraries, schools, children who are too poor to afford them, etc.
The free community pick-up service is provided by The Last Bookstore. You can gain further knowledge about the community by clicking here.
20. Family and Friends
If you have friends and family members who love reading books then your first priority should be to ask them if they are interested in any books that you want to donate. When they are done with the specific book then either you can ask them to donate it further from using the information given in this article or you can donate the books to these places yourself.
Conclusion
Donating books is a responsible task that should be done in a way when it is not a burden. Therefore it is advised to call a few places on this list in advance in order to check if they really want the books that you are donating, for example, libraries, old age homes, etc. Otherwise, the noble task of donating the book will be more of a burden than a blessing.
Books come in different genres so make sure that the kind of book that you are donating to an organization is suitable otherwise it will be of no use. You can choose the type of place where you want to donate on the basis of the genres of the books that you have.
The above-mentioned list is well researched and also contains the official website link to each one of the listing to provide you with all the information that you may need about the concerned topic. Do let us know in the comment section how you like this article, you can also send questions, suggestions, and ideas through your comments, we will appreciate it.