Ready to Help Other Kids?
Host a Fundraiser or Book & Supply Drive
DURATION
More than 4 hoursWHERE
Anywhere! Your house, school, church, community center, etc.
WHEN
Throughout the yearWHOSE HELP IS REQUIRED
Anyone can organize a drive for donations! 🙂 This is a great thing to do with your family and friends!
HOW IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Any donation will allow for us to have enhanced programming for our students, as well as allow for us to increase our enrollment numbers to serve more students and provide them more literacy-based resources to succeed in school and close the literacy gap.
DESCRIPTION
Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that mobilizes communities to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.
You can encourage your friends, family, and community members to donate to Reading Partners via our website or even host a donation drive for books and school supplies for our students. We always love to receive new books to enhance the selection that is available to our students to read in the reading centers, as well as to build their own personal libraries at home through our Take Reading Home program.
ITEMS NEEDED
Before you begin: book donation guidelines
In order to provide our students with the most high-quality, desirable texts, we set specific guidelines for book drive donations. At this time, we are seeking the following:
- Multicultural books and books featuring diverse characters (ages 5-9)
- Books for beginning readers
- Award winning books (Caldecott Medal & Honor, Newbery, New York Times Best, Sibert Informational Book Medal, Coretta Scott King Book Award, etc.)
- Graphic novels for grades 3 and 4 such as Dogman/Diary of a Wimpy Kid/Dork Diaries
- Non-fiction texts focused on animals, sports, science, Black History, etc.
- For additional recommendations, check out Reading Partners’ Diverse Book Wishlist!
If you have books you’d like to donate that do not fit these criteria, we recommend checking about making a donation to another local elementary school, library, or a thrift/second hand store.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
At this time, we are not accepting the following:
- Dirty, dusty, ripped, written in, bent, moldering, or mildewed books.
- Non-fiction texts written over 10 years ago
- Library discards
- Books with television/cartoon characters
- Chapter books that do not have illustrations such as Nancy Drew, Boxcar Children, Babysitter’s Club, etc.
- Religious texts, including holiday books
- Adult/Young Adult texts
- Textbooks
- Encyclopedias, thesauruses, or dictionaries
- Board books
- Audio/Video books
- Instructional materials for teachers
NEXT STEPS
Get in touch with us to organize a drive with necessary logistics. See VIEW INSTRUCTIONS below for details and flyers!
WEBSITE
- Determine dates and a goal for the drive.
- Promote the drive to your network, you can use
- Collect books! If running an in-person book drive, provide “donation bins” at selected drop-off locations and collect books.
- Collect school supplies!
- Reach out to us by email at volunteersv@readingpartners.org or phone 408 945-5720 to coordinate a drop-off or shipment of the items.
- Be sure to let us know that you found this volunteer opportunity through PGK!
- Celebrate your donation by promoting your success with local media, social media and all who donated.
- Kindly fill out this PGK impact form when you’ve completed the activity