If you’ve reached the point that you can’t hold on to any more books no matter how much you loved them, it’s time to donate, recycle, or even sell them.
If your books are in decent condition, why not give them to someone else to love? Charities and local organizations gladly accept donated books because it’s a luxury to many of the people they serve and it saves everyone money (not to mention saving the planet).
Today there are many ways to donate, recycle, or even sell books to give them a new home.
Why Donate Books?
You probably won’t donate books for the tax deduction, especially with the higher standard deduction allowed for most taxpayers. But there are plenty of other good reasons to donate books:
- You’ll encourage reading throughout your community
- It may help families and children in need
- It’s better for the environment
- You can declutter your house
- You’ll repurpose items you don’t need any longer
13 Places to Donate Books
Fortunately, it’s easy to find local places to donate your books. Whether you want to deliver them yourself or have them picked up at your home, here are some great options.
The Local Library
Check with your local library or libraries outside your local area. Not all libraries accept used books, but many do, using them to raise money for the library. If your library has a ‘Friends of the Library’ group, they may hold second-hand sales that sell books donated by people just like you. They use the funds raised to improve the library and offer services for residents.
If your local library doesn’t offer the option, call around to other libraries in the area or even check your local school libraries.
A Local School
Many schools gladly accept used books for use in the classrooms and libraries. Classroom teachers are often responsible for building their classroom library with money from their pockets.
Check with the elementary, middle, and high schools in your area based on the age-appropriateness of the books you have. Even if the schools can’t use the books themselves, they may use them for a book drive where they can sell the books and use the money for school funds.
If you have kids at the local school, suggest a book drive for the kids where kids can swap books, giving each child books that are new to them without anyone spending any money.
Local Churches
Check with local churches to see what opportunities they have to donate old books. Many churches run book drives to raise money for their organization. Some churches may even accept the books for use in their services if they offer daycare services or any type of youth or young adult programs.
Vietnam Veterans of America
Vietnam Veterans of America gladly take used books for use with their families and young children. The organization makes it easy to donate your books by scheduling a pick-up at your home.
You can place the books in a labeled back on your porch on your scheduled pickup day and they will pick them up, putting the books to good use when you’re done with them.
Salvation Army
If you have a Salvation Army in your area, they accept gently used books as donations. They typically sell the books in their thrift stores, which are open to the public. They use the funds raised to support adult rehabilitation centers in the area.
Goodwill
Goodwill is an organization that works to help adults with special needs and other concerns secure employment and have everything they need to survive. Goodwill has locations throughout the United States and accepts donations of all types including books.
They resell the books in their stores, which are open to the public, using the funds to support their mission.
Freecycle
Freecycle is a free online group that happily shares items they no longer need with people who want or need them. The items shared in the group are free and Freecycle has active communities throughout the United States. Books are a popular item on the site because they are easy to pass along and bring joy to others.
Better World Books
Find a collection location for Better World Books and your books will help support worldwide literacy. Better World Books partners with libraries and college campuses to host book drives to collect books for those in need. You can also locate a dropbox near you or ship your books to them directly.
African Library Project
If you feel inclined to start your book drive, you can do it to support schools in Africa. All it takes is 1,000 books and $500 to provide books to an entire school in Africa.
The African Library Project makes it easy to set up a book drive to donate not only your books but the books of those in your community who are in the same position but don’t know where to donate their books.
Books for Africa
Children in Africa don’t have access to books as we do here, but you can help by sending books to Books for Africa. They do ask that along with your book donations that you make a monetary donation since it costs them $0.50 to ship each book, but the monetary donation is optional.
You can mail your books to their warehouse in Georgia, or if you live near one of their two drop-off locations, you can drop them off yourself.
A Neighbor’s Little Free Library
If you’ve noticed little stands on your neighbors’ properties that look like a miniature version of their home, it could be a Little Free Library. The movement started a few years ago but has quickly increased in popularity.
The idea is you donate books to the ‘library’ and take books to read too. When you finish the book, you return it to the ‘library’ just like you would your local library. There’s no fee and it works on the honor system, but it’s a great way to encourage reading in your community.
BookCrossing.com
BookCrossing is a fun way to donate your books. They offer two ways to do it.
- Release your books into the ‘wild’ for a stranger to pick up and read
- Release your book to another BookCrossing member and keep journal entries on the book to see where it lands throughout the world
Resale Shops or Secondhand Bookstores
It may not be the same as donating, but if you have secondhand bookstores in your area, they may pay you a little bit for your books. You won’t get rich turning your books in – you’ll be lucky to get $1 a book, but you can use the money to buy more books from the secondhand book store and support them in their mission.
Half Price Books is a great brick-and-mortar option, and of course, Amazon is another great place to sell your used books, especially textbooks.
FAQs – How and Where to Donate Books
Who takes book donations?
It may seem difficult to get rid of books you no longer want, but there are many organizations that will gladly take the books. Whether they sell them in their stores, such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army or they give the books to those in need – your books will get a second home and you’ll be doing your part to help the community and possibly the world.
Should you throw away old books?
Even if you don’t think your book has any life left in it, don’t throw it away. Try donating it via one of the methods we shared above, or recycle it in your regular recycling. Throwing the book away only fills the landfill with unnecessary paper and causes more damage to the environment that could have been prevented by recycling the paper used in the book.
Do organizations pick up donated books for free?
Many organizations will happily pick up your donated books. The Salvation Army and Goodwill are two popular organizations that offer pickup. Many dedicated book organizations also offer pick-up or drop-off options to make it easy to donate your books.
How should I get rid of books when I move?
It’s common to want to get rid of books when you move, especially if you have a lot of them. Books can get heavy and too difficult to move when you have so many other items to move too. Your best bet is to donate your books to a local library, church, or not-for-profit organization that will put the books to good use.
Final Thoughts – Donating Books
If you have books lying around your house, there are plenty of ways to donate them.
Whether you hand them over to a neighbor using a Little Free Library or your books travel all the way to Africa, know that your donation will help instill the love of reading in so many others.
Who knows how far your book may travel? One purchase can just change the lives of thousands of others!
