Send an email to your friends and family saying what you are doing with a link to your ALP webpage on our website. Simply ask people to donate. A personal appeal like this is very effective because these people know and trust you. Ask donors who work for corporations if they have a matching gift program and you will double the donation.
Ask a local business or service club (e.g., Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, Soroptimists, etc.) to sponsor the library by donating the shipping costs.
Hold a book sale with the books you have collected that are not suitable to send to Africa. Use the money to pay for shipping the Africa-bound books.
In lieu of gifts for your birthday, Confirmation, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, or other special occasion, request that friends give a donation to the African Library Project in your name. Encourage donations as a living memorial for those who would like to honor a loved one that has died.
Ask local restaurants, book stores or retail stores to put in a "change jar" at their cashier stands to raise money. Make a small display to go with the jar or ask us for African Library Project stickers to wrap around the jar. The servers at one restaurant donated all their tips for a week towards shipping costs.
Use a combination of social media/Venmo, for example: "Like this post if you'll accept a 5 dollar Venmo charge from me to go to my book drive to start a library in Malawi with the African Library Project."
Ask a friend who teaches classes like Zumba, yoga, exercise, craft or any kind of service to volunteer to teach a series of classes free. Participants can donate any amount to support your mailing and shipping fees.
