Books For Africa
A simple name for an organization with a simple mission. We collect, sort, ship, and distribute books to students of all ages in Africa. Our goal: to end the book famine in Africa.
Books For Africa remains the largest shipper of donated text and library books to the African continent, shipping over 45 million books to all 55 countries on the African continent since 1988. Last year alone, Books For Africa shipped 3.3 million books, and 155 computers and e-readers containing over 400,000 digital books, to 29 African countries. More than $2.7 million was raised last year to ship these books to the students of Africa.
To learn more about groups currently fundraising to ship books to specific African countries, view the Projects page.
To learn more about the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative, Agricultural Libraries, or French Books view the Special Initiatives page
Contact Books for AfricaBooks For Africa is a simple idea, but its impact is transformative. For us, literacy is quite simply the bridge from misery to hope.
— Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary-General
EIN 41-1627391
The Latest
Books for Africa Sends 300,000 Barefoot Books to Mozambique
Four canisters loaded with 30,000 copies of 10 different Barefoot Books titles in Portuguese, with a retail value of $6 million, are scheduled to arrive in Mozambique later this summer after being custom-printed in Hong Kong and shipped from its port. The books will be distributed to AIDS orphans and their caregivers. This shipment of 300,000 books is part of a new Books for Africa initiative in…
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Books For Africa 2019 Summer Newsletter
2019 has been a record setting year at BFA! As we approach the end of our fiscal year on June 30th, we have surpassed 3.2 million books shipped to Africa this year, already a new record. We are on track to see a remarkable 42% increase over last year's shipping total. Check out our summer newsletter to learn more about our record-setting year, and see what BFA has been doing as we work to end the…
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Reading is Believing Spring Fundraising Luncheon
Books For Africa’s annual fundraising luncheon was held Thursday, May 30th, 2019 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Featuring a keynote speech from His Excellency Dr. Ngosa Simbyakula, Ambassador of Zambia to the United States, over $124,000 was raised to sponsor the shipment of tens of thousands of books to Africa!
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MoneyGram Foundation Grant Provides Access to Education
The MoneyGram Foundation provided a $50,000 grant to Books For Africa to sponsor a shipment of 66,000 books, computers and maps to schools in Ghana, Cameroon, and Ethiopia, and a team of employees in the MoneyGram International Minneapolis office volunteered to sort donated books at Books For Africa’s St. Paul, Minnesota warehouse.
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Board Member Perspective
Books For Africa Board Members come from a wide variety of professional and cultural backgrounds, and are integral to BFA’s ongoing development and growth. In a blog post for Lerner Publishing, current Board President-Elect Joni Sussman discusses connecting her background in children's publishing with BFA's mission on a trip to South Africa.
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