Donating new or used books to charity has many rewards. You are giving books to the needy, encouraging reading and also getting a small deduction to use at tax time. Your books may even travel around the world, filling the shelves of an international library in need. Donating books also benefits the environment by keeping those books out of overcrowded landfills. Each nonprofit organization has its own requirements and procedures for donations. Many of these organizations only accept books in good or very good condition because repairing damaged books or recycling unusable books takes time and money.
Step 1
Visit your local library's website for information on donating books. If the information is not on the website, call the library to find out its specific policy. According to the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, or ALTAFF, each library has its own guidelines and needs.
Step 2
Pay for shipping and mail your books to Better World Books, which is in partnership with ALTAFF. If your books sell, the profits benefit libraries through ALTAFF. If the books cannot be sold, ALTAFF will either donate them to a literacy program or they will be recycled.
Step 3
Drop your books off at a Reading Tree bin in your community, feeding the books into the bin no more than two books at a time. Reading Tree accepts children's, adults, hardback and paperback books. Children's books are donated to literacy programs and international libraries; other books may be sold to help pay for Reading Tree's programs. Visit the Reading Tree website to find a location near you.
Step 4
Mail books that are in very good, almost new condition to Books for America's used bookstore in Washington, D.C., or its Book Sorting Facility in Fairfax, Virginia. Books for America donates books to libraries and Washington, D.C.-area schools, shelters and prisons. Books for America accepts hardcover and paperback children's books and paperback books in all genres, including cookbooks, science fiction, music and psychology. Call Books for America for information on donating informational books with dated material, such as encyclopedias and guidebooks, and hardcover books.
Tips and Warnings
- Ask for a tax donation receipt when you donate in person. If you donate by mail or a drop-off box, visit the organization's website to print a tax donation receipt. The Internal Revenue Service's publication "Determining the Value of Donated Property" can help you give a monetary value to your donated books. Try donating at local churches and day cares if your books are too worn to meet the major nonprofits' standards. Alternately, post an ad on a free classified website so an individual or family in need can pick up your books.
Member Comments