Make a book. Make a difference. Whatever is done to make the world a better place, a book can spread the message and support a good cause.
Blurb for Good; a Charitable Fundraising Idea
Blurb has created the Blurb for Good concept for individuals, non-profits, and organizations of every size and stripe that want to raise awareness and funds for their causes. By joining Blurb for Good anybody are enabled to set the price for their own book and keep 100% of the profit for their cause. Printing, fulfilling orders, tracking sales and sending checks is done by Blurb. The charity organisations only need to make the book (How to Make Your Own Photo Book on Blurb.com) and promote it, e.g. by use of Blurb BookShow™ to promote a book online. It is also possible to apply for charitable contributions from Blurb.
This might be an easy solution for fundraising for several cause since no big budgets or massive production is needed. The expenses are the cost of a book and the time needed to make it.
Ideas for a Charity Book Project
For a book to sell, there is a need for a good content; whether we are talking about a photo book, a classic coffee table book, a story book, a book of poems or an representation of a cause or a project (see Photo Projects You Can do Together with Your Friends and Family for additional ideas).
Three success stories, for your inspiration and to give you ideas on how to do your own charity book project, are given below:
Blog Aid - Recipes for Haiti
(Preview book): Julie Van Rosendaal, of Canada’s Dinner with Julie, got her friends, from famous chefs to teen food bloggers, together and created a cookbook for Haiti. Twenty-seven food writers united and created a full-colour book, 110 pages, which sold more than 1,800 copies. The Canadian Red Cross matched sales of the book and the result was a large donation of more than $45,000 to relief efforts in Haiti.
Contributors in Recipes for Haiti:
- Backseat Gourmet
- Blue Jean Gourmet
- Celiac Teen
- Chef Michael Smith
- Christie's Corner
- Dana McCauley
- Dinner with Julie
- Emily Richards Cooks
- Food for my Family
- Food in Jars
- Gluten-Free Girl
- Healthy. Delicious.
- Kitchen Scraps
- Lottie & Doof
- My Baking Addiction
- Recipe Girl
- Savory Sweet Life
- Seven Spoons
- Sweet Amandine
- Tartelette
- Tea & Cookies
- The Pink Peppercorn
- The Traveler's Lunchbox
- Tongue-n-Cheeky
- Under the High Chair
- Weelicious
Sales of this limited-edition book ended February 12, 2010 – exactly one month after the tragic earthquake in Haiti.
Spirit
(Preview book): Raising funds do sometimes have a personal cause. That’s the way it was for Photographer John G. Moore. Compelled to do something when his friend’s daughter died at the young age of four. He hiked California’s John Muir trail and captured its beauty in his book Spirit. During Spring 2008 to Autumn 2009, John travelled the 211 mile through Sierra Nevada Mountains. He started at Yosemite Valley and travelled south, ending his journey at the highest peak in contiguous USA, Mt Whitney. The resulting book contains 160 pages book with a selection of images from his journey. Sales of the book raised money for the children’s charity based in Glasgow Hospital where the young girl was treated, and Access Adventure, a non-profit organization that connects underserved and handicapped people with the outdoors.
Photographers@Microsoft 2009
(preview book): Make your employer contribute! Microsoft’s photography club partnered with the Microsoft’s Giving Campaign and created a book of their photographs to raise money for a local United Way of King County, Washington campaign. Sales from the book were matched by Microsoft’s giving campaign and raised more than $50,000.
Here is how they raised the money: $25 from the sale of each book went to the King County United Way fund, and Microsoft Community Affairs matched the contribution for a total of $50 per book. To date, 900 books have been sold. In addition, Microsoft’s Photography Club members were able to count their time spent on the project as volunteer hours, which Microsoft matched at $17 per hour, raising the grand total to nearly $50,000.
More than 200 photographers gave their time, talent and photography to make the book a reality.
Birgit Ryningen - Birgit (born 01.11.77) is a judo player with one Nordic and several Norwegian Champion titles. She holds a PhD in material science and ...
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