01
School libraries
We build a lending library inside the school — books, shelving, soft furnishings, and a part-time librarian for the first three years.
A 501(c)(3) charitable organisation
Every kid deserves a place to read.
We build, stock, and staff lending libraries in under-served schools. Since 2018: 142 libraries, 184,000 books circulated, 38,000 kids reached.
Registered charitable organisation
Financials published every year
87¢ per dollar to programmes
Accounts independently audited
01The impactFrom the annual report
- 142
- Libraries built in 38 cities
- 184K
- Books circulated in 2024 alone
- 38K
- Kids with active library cards
- 87¢
- Of every dollar to programmes
02ProgrammesAudited annually
Where the money goes
Four programmes, one theory: kids without books at home need books at school.
02
Summer reading
Six-week summer programmes in 22 cities, with free books for every child enrolled. Last summer: 14,000 kids.
03
Family literacy
Adult literacy classes attached to each library, so parents and kids learn together. 92% completion rate.
04
Books-by-mail
Monthly book deliveries to kids whose schools we haven't reached yet. 6,000 households on the list today.
Give
Fifty-eight schools are on the waitlist
Every school on that list has no library within walking distance of its gates. A build week costs about $18,000 — shelving, two thousand starter books, the good reading lamps, and three years of a part-time librarian. Monthly giving is what lets us promise a school those three years before we have raised the money.
142 of 200 schools reached toward our 2027 goal
Receipts arrive by email immediately and carry our registration number. Where local rules allow it, gifts are tax-deductible.
$25
Stocks one child with books for a school year
$250
Sponsors a shelf — about ninety books, curated by a librarian
$2,500
Names a library and funds its first restock
Founded by a librarian and three parents.
We started in 2018 with one library in one school in one neighbourhood. Six years later we operate in 38 cities — still small enough to know every librarian by name, big enough that the cost-per-kid math we promised our first donors holds.
- Registered charitable organisation · financials published yearly
- 87¢ of every dollar to programmes, independently audited
- Volunteer board of eleven · annual report published every spring
03School to shelves in one term
How a library happens
A school raises its hand
Principals apply in ten minutes. We prioritise schools with no library within walking distance — need first, paperwork second.
Build week
Shelving, 2,000 starter books, soft seating, and the good reading lamps — installed by staff and local volunteers over five days.
Three years, staffed
We fund a part-time librarian for three years and restock quarterly. A library without a librarian is a storage room.
The handover
By year four the school runs it, we keep supplying books at cost, and the librarian usually stays. 131 of 142 still circulate today.
From our schools
What a room full of books does.
5 out of 5 stars
“My students went from "I don't read" to "what came in this week?" — I've taught for nineteen years and never seen anything move the needle like the library has.”
M
Ms. Greene
Grade 4 teacher · Birmingham
04Straight answers
Donor questions
Is my donation tax-deductible?+
Where our registration allows it, yes. Our registration number is printed on every receipt — which arrives immediately — and an annual summary follows each January.
Where does the money actually go?+
87¢ of every dollar to programmes, independently audited. The rest is staff and the boring-but-necessary. The full audit and Form 990 are published yearly.
What does a specific amount do?+
$25 stocks a kid for a year, $250 sponsors a shelf, $2,500 names a library. Monthly giving is what lets us promise schools three years of staffing.
Can I volunteer instead?+
Yes — build weeks need hands, and summer reading needs readers. Tell us your city and we'll match you to the next date.
Can we donate books?+
New or like-new children's books, yes — our librarians curate every shelf, so we'll send the current wishlist first.
How do you pick schools?+
Need first: schools with no library within walking distance, then by application date. The waitlist is public — 58 schools today.
Help us reach 200 schools by 2027.
$25 stocks a kid for a year. $250 sponsors a shelf. $2,500 names a library. Monthly and one-time, both count.
Receipt by email · registration number on every receipt
Get involved
Donations, volunteering, book drives, press — tell us which and we'll route you to a human, not a queue.
- Donate
- Volunteer
- Press
- MailingPO Box 8842, Birmingham AL 35201