Sustainer Levels

$5: Post-a-Package Per Month

A monthly contribution of five dollars sponsors one recipient’s shipment of books each and every month. Did you know shipping one package of hand-selected books to one person costs between $2 and $5 each for postage alone? Add in the cost of packing materials and the fact that we ship to hundreds of people each month and this is one daunting tab! Thanks for picking up a round!

$10: Volunteer Vote of Confidence

Donating money is absolutely a form of volunteering! Books Through Bars is an all-volunteer organization that deeply relies on our community. Maybe you already volunteer each month with us and this level of giving identifies your hard work, or maybe this monthly donation is your way of contributing as a volunteer. Either way, we can’t do it without you!

$25: Librarian/Library Worker Solidarity

Keep our library shelves stocked! So much of the work we do behind the scenes is collecting and curating our large selection of relevant books to be mailed out, so it’s no coincidence that so many of our volunteers are library workers, both by profession and by their volunteer involvement. Public and private libraries are integral to healthy communities and while they may not be readily accessible to folks behind bars, Books Through Bars is proud to fill the gaps. Thank you for ensuring we can continue to fill folks’ book requests with fantastic books from our library!

$50: Legal Library Advocate

Supports our legal selection! One of our most popular requests is also our hardest request to fill. Law books are hard to come by and often extremely expensive. $50 a month can help us secure current and accessible law books to mail to folks who are looking to get more informed on their own rights and legal procedures. Let’s get our people free!

$100: Comrade for the Long Haul

One hundred dollars a month will shoulder some of our harder-to-fund expenses. Rent, electricity, insurance, and office costs add up. Even without any staff to pay, overhead expenses are real! Organizing a full library and a full line-up of volunteers requires a lot of space and we greatly, GREATLY appreciate your help in maintaining it!

One-Time Donations: Where Will Your Money Go?

• $4 purchases 1 dictionary

• $15 covers shipment for 3–5 book packages (3–5 people!)

• $50 covers materials and mailing costs for 1 participant in Address This!

• $1,000 covers 1 month’s rent for our space

• $80,000 is the cost of running BTB for one full year—rent, postage, books, and volunteer training all included