These are the most common questions asked about donating books, cds and dvds through Books4Cause, Inc.’s city book donations and campus book drives. If you have a different question, call 800-570-3698 or send an email to: info[at]books4cause.com.
- What is Books4Cause?
- What type of book donations do you accept?
- Books are heavy, how can I get them to you?
- Sounds great but in which part of the country do you pick up?
- What causes will benefit from my book donation?
- What do you do with the donated books?
- Do you throw any book donations away?
- Do you provide a tax receipt for donated books?
What is Books4Cause?[top]
We run book drives on campuses across the U.S. and accepts book donations in Chicago. The for-profit social venture helps fund and support various initiatives locally, nationally and around the world. Books4Cause’s organizers don’t raise funds or rely on government grants. All funding comes from selling a portion of books donated.
What type of book donations do you accept?[top]
We accept any cd, dvd and book in good condition, except journals, periodicals, custom course manuals, old encyclopedias or magazines. Older books that are a few years out of date are perfect for Africa. Newer books are often sold to raise money and cover operating costs and any shipping fees associated with campus book drives or city book donations.
Books are heavy, how can I get them to you?[top]
Books4Cause, Inc. is a full-service organization. If you’re in the Chicago area, our book donation drivers will come to your home or office, box up the books, and get them started on the way to their new home. Schedule your book donation pick-up by contacting us by email or by calling 800-570-3698, and leave the heavy lifting to us.
Sounds great… Where do you pick up books?[top]
We are based in Chicago. We run campus book drives at schools from the Midwest to the East Coast. Discover how book drives change lives. Find out where to donate books.
What causes will benefit from my book donation?[top]
All of our book-drives benefit Human Service Resources, Inc. (HSRI). We send HSRI money, books and store all of their other educational supplies that are sent to Ghana. We also have local partners on each campus that get money and/or books. We are looking to work with additional national and local partners. Here’s a list of our current partners.
What do you do with the collected books?[top]
Books4Cause finds the best possible use for each cd, dvd and book collected in support of our mission to help worthy causes. Books are either sold to raise money for non-profit programs, sent to one of our non-profit partners for use in their programs, or recycled if unsuitable for sale or partner use.
Around 25% of the books are sold to raise money for non-profit programs and shipping costs, around 50% are sent to one of our non-profit partners for use in their programs and around 25% are recycled if unsuitable for sale or partner use.
Most of our donated books are sent to Africa with the assistance of our non-profit partner Human Service Resources, Inc (HSRI). HSRI runs the Good Books for Africa program distributing books to children in classrooms and libraries in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.
Children’s books are turned into libraries in Africa with the help of the African Library Project.
Do you throw any book donations away?[top]
We never throw books away. We genuinely have a love for books and reading and often marvel at the diverse and interesting books that come our way. We also pride ourselves on our ability to derive the maximum value from every book collected. Any book that cannot be sold or used directly by our literacy programs is pulped and recycled. We have recycled thereby diverting hundreds of thousands of books from landfills.
Do you provide a tax receipt?[top]
Yes. We furnish a tax receipt for your book donations. This receipt is from HSRI for the amount of books that you have donated. The tax receipt will be issued at the end of the book drive.