Questions & Answers
What’s a social venture?
A social venture is a kind of business model where success is measured by the positive impact it makes in the world; specifically in addressing a social issue. At Helping Hands Books, it’s all about youth development. Social ventures harness the power of capitalism to generate a “social profit”- which is the portion of sales that ends up benefiting our non-profit youth development agencies.
How does a book drive work?
Once you’ve chosen a youth program in your community, or one of our featured youth programs, a book drive has 5 Simple Stages:
- Get people involved: Try and team up with another group or organization. The more people you have on board, the better!
- Organize the drive: Hold a meeting to delegate drive activities.
- Promote the drive: Spread the word! Create a Facebook event, make an announcement in the school paper, post flyers, etc.
- Collect books and media items: Place collection boxes in strategic areas on campus (i.e., library, bookstore, student union, dormitories) at least a week before finals begin.
- Pack and Unload: Pack up books and call us to come and pick them up!
How much does Helping Hands Books pay for the books and media items we collect?
Helping Hands Books pays a set amount for all media items (books, CDs, DVDs, video games and game systems) based on eligibility guidelines. For complete details, contact us for more information.
It states that Helping Hands Books donates 20% of its profits to youth programs. What youth programs benefit, and how are they chosen?
Helping Hands Books will always donate 20% of our profits from sales to youth programs chosen by our fundraising partners (i.e. YOU!). Each and every accepted book and media item collected receives a code. That code tells Helping Hands Books where to send monthly donation checks. Checks are cut and sent out on a monthly basis. A letter is sent with each donation to identify the organization responsible. If a youth program is not selected, Helping Hands Books will send donations to the agencies promoted on our “Featured Youth Programs” page.
What if our organization is a “youth serving organization?”
If your organization serves young people in any way, either domestically or internationally, you will benefit the most from working with us! In essence, your organization will be able to “double-dip.” Helping Hands Books will not only pay you for each eligible book/media item, but will also send the 20% checks directly to your organization.
Can Libraries run book-drives?
Absolutely! We all know how much libraries contribute to the youth in their communities. As with book-drives organized by youth-serving organizations, libraries can “double-dip.” Not only will Helping Hands Books pay you for each eligible book/media item, but also will send the 20% commission checks directly to your library.
What kinds of books and media items would generate the most money for youth programs?
In general, academic textbooks and study guides have the capability of generating the most money for youth programs. Most of the textbooks we receive are used copies that campus bookstores refused to buy back from students. Recent fiction, children’s books, and books on CD do well also. We also accept used CDs, DVDs, and video games.
What happens to all the collected books and media that do not meet acceptance guidelines?
Regarding the books and media items you collect that do not meet our acceptance guidelines, there are a few options. 1) We can give them back to you, so that you can hold a “book sale” or donate them somewhere, or 2) You can ask us to do something with them. If you’d rather let us deal with the rejected items you collected, we will donate them to good causes locally, we may send books to Books For Africa, or simply recycle them.
How long after our book drive finishes, do we get paid for the books and media items collected?
It takes a while to inspect everything that’s been collected, figure out what we can use, clean up and organize. With that said, we guarantee you’ll receive payment in 30 days or less. Most likely, 2-3 weeks.
How do I know how much money is generated for the selected youth program?
Every month we will send a check to your selected youth program. That check will represent 20% of the profits from everything sold that you have collected. In the envelope will be information about Helping Hands Books, as well as an acknowledgment that your organization is to thank for the donation. The youth program you sponsor will receive monthly checks as long as there are items left to sell.
You donate 20% of your profits to local youth serving agencies, but where does the other 80% go?
Operating a business like ours takes time and money. We need to pay for storage unit rental fees, bookshelves, shipping materials, promotional materials, collection boxes, and storage boxes. We also have to pay for the gas and tolls it takes to pick up people’s donations. Ebay, Half.com, and Amazon all charge us fees for listing and selling on their sites, and we have to pay monthly for our website domain name and hosting. We have college students who we pay to sort and list, and of course we have to pay ourselves for the time we put in. Finally, Uncle Sam takes a chunk in the form of taxes. Would we like to give more? Of course! However, if we gave more money away we’d quickly go out of business, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone.
Can I get a receipt for my book donation to be used for tax write-off purposes?
We can give you a receipt, but we’re not a non-profit, so you will not be able to use the receipt you get from us for tax deduction purposes. However, we can offer you .10 cents to $1.00 per eligible book. We would still need to sort through your donation to determine what we can use and what we’ll find another home for. Once you’re donation is completely sorted, we’ll tally up the amount we owe you and send you a check.
