Which charitable organization would benefit most from receiving free books?

I have been mulling and researching what I thought was a great idea: “If you buy one of my books from my website, I’ll give a copy of that same book to…”

I want the recipient to be to someone who would truly benefit from the gift. Knowing who that someone is, however, has become much harder than I thought it would.

We are told, when we research where we want to focus our philanthropic efforts, to ask ourselves about our own passions. Here are a few of mine:

• Writing.
• Seeking.
• Growing teenagers – empowering them as better, clear-thinking, expanding writers.
• Writing as a way to make sense of … well, I don’t really mean ‘suffering’, so I’ll say ‘life.’
• Reading for pleasure.
• Writing for pleasure.
• Poets – all poets and poetry.
• Local economy.
• Education – Waldorf Education in particular, and all education in general. I would like to donate books to the Lakota Waldorf School in South Dakota, but how many copies of Heaven Falls do they need? This brave, strong, cheerful little school still barely has an outhouse. http://www.lakotawaldorfschool.org/en/

Here are some ideas that I have considered:

I thought women in prison would enjoy my page-turning, suspenseful, romantic novels. Books Through Bars and Books To Prisoners are two options. Even though I don’t have any personal connection to prisoners or prisons, I do want to do what I can to help every human being toward peace and happiness.

I wondered whether soldiers overseas would enjoy my books as well. http://booksforsoldiers.com/ But I have the same question: I don’t have a personal relationship with the military. Does that matter, do you think?

Proliteracy: Having been involved in the RWA for many years, literacy organizations seem a likely candidate, but I wonder whether my Writespa “Writing through the Year” seems more helpful to someone who can already read and write. http://netcommunity.proliteracy.org/give-otherways

I’ve looked at Salvation Army, which does accept books. The charities and people supported by the Salvation Army seem good: http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/vw-local/Home The religious-ness gives me pause, but it probably should not.

Local giving: I would like to give ‘locally’ and Southern Berkshire’s Construct Inc. for homeless people is certainly a worthy cause. But they say they would benefit more from receiving children’s books – and, besides, how many copies of What Would You Do If There Was Nothing You Had To Do? would they want on their shelves? http://www.constructinc.org/CONSTRUCT/HOME.html

Libraries are not necessarily grateful for donations – most libraries are heading the other way. http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet12

I looked into Books for Africa, which seems a fabulous way to go: http://www.booksforafrica.org/books-computers/donate-books.html I was very moved by this quote on the website: “Books For Africa helps alleviate poverty of the imagination where imagination is most needed—where war and hunger, corruption and injustice seek to crush inspiration.” — Alexandra Fuller.

Then I wondered whether there was a need for good books closer to home. So I went to Native American book needs – and found scant references – the library system might appreciate children’s books, which mine aren’t. http://www.ailanet.org/activities/index.htm

Many book-donation sites reference Better World Books which sells donated books through several online marketplaces. This place offers to take any and all books, sells them, and donates the profits to charities; they are for-profit. Some blogs claim this company sends less than 10% to charities – I could not find out for sure. http://www.betterworldbooks.com

So where do I go from here?

Do you have any other options?

How about if I send the book to a random address somewhere with a friendly greeting card asking the person to pass it along to a local homeless shelter, prison, Goodwill store. But that might be very annoying to the recipient, don’t you think?

Or how about if I send my purchasers two copies of the book, and let them choose which charity would most benefit from receiving it?

Or perhaps I could offer three options for where the book would be donated and let whoever buys a copy of my book decide for themselves. In that case, which three?

Any suggestions? If you bought one of my books, who else would you like to have receive one?