Donate Books
Books For Africa appreciates all book donations. It costs BFA 50 cents to ship each book to Africa. Consider making a financial donation to cover the costs of shipping the books you donate. Please send financial donations separately in an envelope to the BFA office: Books For Africa, 717 Prior Ave N., Ste. B, St. Paul, MN 55104, USA. Or make a donation online.
After dropping off or mailing in your books, please send an email to bfa@booksforafrica.org, and we will email you a thank you letter for your records!
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61177914
Total books delivered
Each book delivered opens doors for an African learner.
Send Books By Mail
If mailing books, please send book donations to:
Please do not mail books to the St. Paul Warehouse.
Drop Off Books
NOTICE: Large drop-offs (two or more pallets) must be arranged ahead of time by calling the Georgia (404-603-8680) or Minnesota (651-251-8896) warehouse.
Books can be dropped off at both our St. Paul and Marietta locations:
Hours
Monday to Friday
9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Hours
Monday to Friday
8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Book Donation Requirements
Books For Africa accepts:
- children's books
- books that are 15 years old or newer.
- primary, secondary, and college textbooks (soft and hard cover) published in the last 15 years.
- dictionaries or reference books published in the last 10 years, except encyclopedia sets.
- medical, nursing, technical and science books published in the last 10 years.
- religious primary texts (such as Bibles or Qurans), please place them in a box separate from other donations and mark the box as “Religious texts.” Religious texts are sent only when requested by African recipients.
- School/office supplies—paper, pencils, pens, wall charts, maps, etc.
Acceptable books are gently used and relevant to an African reader.
If you mail books, please do not send boxes that weight more than 50 pounds and do not include any non-recyclable packing materials such as plastic bubble wrap or peanuts. Books For Africa cannot allocate funds for the mailing or shipping of book donations to our warehouses. This helps us keep our operating costs lower so that we can ship more and more books to students who need them.
If you are interested in getting confirmation of when your books arrive at the warehouse, we recommend asking USPS for tracking on your package! Because the BFA warehouse receives and sorts thousands of pounds of books every week, relying on volunteers to do so, we may not be able to locate and confirm receipt of specific individual packages.
Interested in donating law books? View our law book donation requirements, or learn more about BFA's Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative!
Running a book drive?
We encourage Book Drive Captains to also collect money to help get book donations to the Books For Africa warehouse. Please contact bfa@booksforafrica.org for our Book Drive Media Kit to help with your book drive!
Books For Africa does NOT accept:
- Encyclopedia sets
- Magazines or journals of any kind, including academic journals.
- Home decorating or wedding books.
- Cookbooks.
- Ethnocentric books, such as the biography of Abraham Lincoln or the history of Ohio.
- Foreign language books except for French books. French novels and dictionaries are welcome.
- American history or civics.
- Music books for K–12.
- Murder mysteries or anything with “kill,” “die,” “murder,” etc. in the title.
Purchase books from our Amazon Wish List
Amazon Wish List lists books specially chosen to resonate with the beneficiaries.If You Are a Publisher
IRS special tax incentive rule known as section 170(e)(3) allows manufacturers and distributors to make donations of equipment and/or inventory to nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations at a considerable tax advantage. Gifts can usually be deducted at cost plus one-half the difference between the cost (basis) and the fair market value (FMV). Deductions are limited to 10% of the company’s taxable income each year; excess donations may be carried forward.