According to UNESCO, 202 million students who attend school in Sub-Saharan Africa will not be able to read or write properly after finishing school due to lack of quality educational resources. An estimated 770 million across Africa have no access to electricity and 936 million still have no access to the internet! Yet according to CODEP, an estimated 13 million books (7,500 tonnes) go to landfill every year in the UK alone, and the National Wildlife Federation found that approximately 320 million books (160,000 tonnes) are sent to landfill or recycling sites annually in America.
Your support helps Books2Africa to continue addressing these challenges.
Books2Africa’s current impact objective is to readcycle 1 million books (500,000 kg) and 1,000 computers (3,000 kg) within the UK and distribute them to individuals, institutions, and communities across Africa’s 54 countries. We have established a robust logistical operation that enables donated educational materials to be tracked as they travel from our donors to our Processing Centre to be processed (catalogued or refurbished), before being shipped to Africa and distributed directly to individuals (via Distribution Centres) or indirectly by equipping libraries within academic institutions (schools, colleges, universities) and communities (community centres, hospitals, prisons and more).
At Books2Africa, our ‘readcycling’ model is designed to extend the life of educational materials by preventing perfectly usable materials such as book and computers from going to recycling/landfill sites in the UK, sending them to individuals, institutions and communities in Africa instead.
Our model complements the UK government’s waste strategy of reducing how much waste ends up in recycling/landfill sites, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).
Books2Africa was founded by four African students in 2012 during their time studying in the UK at the University of Kent and University of York. Their vision and passion for the continent’s development continue to guide the charity’s operational model and strategic priorities, within a framework that enables international collaboration.
Your financial support as a sponsor will enable us to achieve our impact objective of readcycling and distributing 1 million books and 1 thousand computers every year.
Through our 80/20 fundraising model, our overhead costs are funded from the sale of 20% of donated books and resources via our online Charity Shop. This means that every penny you donate as a sponsor goes directly towards the cost of shipping and delivering the remaining 80% of donated books and resources to individuals, institutions and communities across Africa.
Make knowledge your legacy.
Become a monthly sponsor with a monthly donation of £10. Together with 2,000 other monthly sponsors, your donation goes to our 1 Million Book Fund which helps fund the shipping cost of 1,000,000 books and 1,000 computers every year. Monthly sponsors get free collections of donated items from their addresses and are signed up to our Impact Newsletter.
Become a container sponsor by funding a forty feet container shipment of 40,000 books per year with an £8,000 donation. An additional £2,000 donation will enable us clear and deliver the container to beneficiaries of your choice. Container sponsors also get featured on our Sponsors Wall below and enjoy other PR benefits including a press release, social media posts and more.
You can also sponsor the following shipment types with your financial support
Your donation of £100 can fund the cost of processing and shipping a Digital Study Kit containing a laptop, solar reading light, and access to digital books. An additional £100 will enable us clear and deliver to a beneficiary of your choice.
Your donation of £500 can fund the cost of processing and shipping 1,000 books. Enough books to equip a classroom library. An additional £500 will enable us clear and deliver the pallet to a beneficiary of your choice.
Your donation of £5,000 can fund the cost of processing and shipping 20,000 books. Enough books to equip 5 libraries. An additional £2,000 donation will enable us clear and deliver the container to beneficiaries of your choice.
It takes just 3 months from when your funding is received, to when your sponsored educational materials are delivered to the hands of beneficiaries in Africa.
After completing the online sponsorship form, we’ll schedule a call with you to finalise or confirm receipt of your payment and discuss your beneficiary’s requirements, including the types and categories of books and educational resources you want to be shipped based subject to our existing stock of books and computers.
When funding is received, our Logistics Team will be authorised to move your materials to our shipping queue and we’ll aim to have a loading date booked within 2 weeks. Our marketing team will also be in touch with container sponsors to write a press release for our website and obtain your logo to be published on our Sponsors’ Wall.
On the loading date, a van or lorry will arrive and we’ll load your materials using a forklift. After loading, it can take 4-6 weeks by sea to get to the seaport of your preferred country in Africa. We work with reputable shippers including DHL, Maersk, DSV and more to ensure that customs clearance goes smoothly and is completed within 4 weeks.
After clearing is completed, the container is trucked to your community of choice to be distributed to your specified beneficiaries or other eligible beneficiaries we chose accordingly. Depending on the distribution plan, it can take 2-3 weeks to distribute all the books and computers. Impact photos, videos and reports will be sent back to you.
“The effect of donated books is so great, especially for the kids who are from the villages. They will come in and read books. Sometimes they can’t read but they will open pages and see pictures, and just get excited to have this place. For us, we have times when we come here and study, and also research for our own teaching. And just for amusement! For me, I will just come, sit there in the corner and read. I like reading fiction: horror and also romance books.”
We are grateful for the individuals and organisations who sponsor container shipments of books and computers to help us achieve our mission.
You can find Books2Africa on the following fundraising platforms
Books To Africa International is a UK registered charity (1152599) and a UK company limited by guarantee (08528635).
An organisation in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 2017.
We do not store credit card details nor do we share financial details with any third parties.
© Books2Africa – All rights reserved.
