Your tax-deductible financial support, whether large or small, of rural public libraries is greatly appreciated. Each dollar you contribute allows the rural public libraries that receive a Pilcrow Foundation grant through the Children’s Book Project to add one dollar’s worth of new, quality, hardcover children’s books to their permanent book collection.

What is the impact of your contribution? Donations of $5.00 – $10.00 will provide a board book, just right for little hands. Donations from $10.00 – $25.00 will provide a new hardcover picture book or middle grades novel. Picture books and novels average $17.00 in retail price. A donation of $800 sponsors a rural public library’s Children’s Book Project grant or a Disaster Relief Children’s Book Project grant. As grant recipients, librarians receive 45–75 new books when The Pilcrow Foundation matches their community-sponsored funds of $200-$400.

When reviewing grant applications we consider the following library and community characteristics:

• the library’s financial need
• the population of the community the library serves
• the library’s proximity to urban communities
• the number of children who visit the library and check out books
• the activities the library provides to the children they serve

The Pilcrow Foundation provides a 2-to-1 match to rural public library grant recipients who contribute $200-$400 through Friends of the Library or other local sponsors. Thus libraries that are awarded a grant through the Children’s Book Project qualify to receive up to $1200 worth (at retail value) of new, quality, hardcover children’s books.

We provide a list of approximately 400 quality, hardcover books from which the grant recipients can select the books best suited for their community. The book list includes award-winning and highly-recommended titles reviewed by educational and literary organizations.

The Pilcrow Foundation has established a Named Sponsor Program. As a Named Sponsor, you can match the $400 a rural public library raises with an $800 contribution. Named Sponsors can request their donation supports a rural public library in a particular state or where the contribution is most needed.

Each book donated through the Named Sponsor Program will include a specially designed bookplate inside the book. The inscription on the bookplate includes the name of the library’s local sponsor (i.e., who helped the libraries raise their $400), the Named Sponsor, and The Pilcrow Foundation. You as the Named Sponsor may choose to donate the books in honor of someone or remain anonymous.

Click on the Give by Mail or Online tab for the many different ways you can help rural public libraries receive books from The Pilcrow Foundation through the Children’s Book Project. Mail your contribution to The Pilcrow Foundation, 343 E. Washington Avenue, Cottage Grove OR 97424

The Pilcrow Foundation does not employ a professional fund-raiser nor does it share or sell the names of its contributors. We will not send repeated appeals for money nor do we spend money on “gifts,” such as address labels, calendars, greeting cards, etc. The Pilcrow Foundation uses the money it receives to donate new, quality, hardcover children’s books to rural public libraries across the United States in order to promote the joy of reading. EIN: 38-3921215.