Welcome to Free-To-Read
This Free-To-Read website helps you put children’s literature into the hands of kids at schools that have no money to buy books. This is all done with no overhead costs. This website is organized into five sections. The Overview section gives the whys and hows of Free-To-Read. The Donor's Section provides instructions and printable form letters needed to make donations. The Teacher's Section provides instructions and printable forms needed to accept a donation and buy books. The Principal's Section includes instructions and the printable form letter needed to oversee the donation process. Finally, the Fund-Raising Kit section provides the guidance and printable material you need to get media attention and generate donations for your local schools.
Children’s literature is a large body of novels and novellas written for kids of all ages and reading levels. Children’s literature spans the fascinations, interests, and concerns of kids growing up. It provides a safe pathway for kids to follow in their quest for understanding the world and life’s many facets. The “Free-To-Read” program puts children’s literature into the hands of kids at schools that have no money to buy these books. There is no centralized nonprofit organization running the show and therefore no indirect or overhead costs. Instead, Free-To-Read is a self-managing, self-monitoring, and self-perpetuating set of policies and procedures that allow you to donate directly to a school and classroom of your choosing. There are no overhead costs so every dollar donated is used to buy a book.
Donors are connected directly to the teacher whose classroom they will help, teachers report the purchase of books and their costs directly to Donors, and school Principals hold the donated monies while teachers purchase the books. There are no overhead or indirect costs because the process of donating and purchasing books and the associated checks and balances are distributed among those directly involved. The only centralized element in the Free-To-Read program is this website which was created and is maintained as a donation by educators, researchers, and technologists in the Silicon Valley.
Donors make gifts of between $250 and $1000 for the express purpose of buying children’s literature books for a specific school and classroom of their choosing. Donors can be individuals, charitable organizations, community-based businesses, or corporations. The important thing is that Donors should donate within their local area where they are most familiar with the communities and know where their donation will do the most good.
You may find this idea of no overhead costs and the approach used to achieve it unfamiliar; but, you will also find the logic of this system compelling. Donors enjoy the fact that the entire gift goes directly to the purchase of books. Schools and Principals enjoy the fact that there is virtually no paperwork associated with receiving the donations. Teachers enjoy the fact that they have a new and easy-to-use source of funds for buying books for their kids. Finally, the kids who would not otherwise have access to children’s literature books are given an entire world of books to explore. This world has helped each new generation to first imagine and then to achieve lives beyond their immediate circumstances.
Reminder. The Free-To-Read program is successful only because Principals, Teachers, and Citizens get their local community members to donate money. This is done by creating awareness of the Free-To-Read program. The FUND-RAISING KIT Section of this website provides all of the instruction and material you need in order to generate donors for the Free-To-Read program. So, if you want to help, work with the Principal of your local elementary school and use the Fund-Raising Kit to find donors.
The Free-To-Read program provides an entire structure, complete with essential checks and balances to protect the integrity of the system and its participants. Thus, if you participate in the Free-To-Read program, you are required to follow the simple policies and procedures provided at this website.
Step One. Teachers and Principals create local public interest in the Free-To-Read program. They do this at the community level by contacting local newspapers, radio, and television reporters and sending them the press releases provided at this website. The local media reports the school’s need for donors for the Free-To-Read program. These news stories direct prospective donors to the Free-To-Read website. All of the instructions and materials needed for fund raising are provided in the FUND-RAISING KIT section of this website.
Step Two. Using the Inquiry Form Letter, found in the Donor’s Section of this website, a Donor contacts the Principal at the school to which he or she wants to donate. In this form letter, Donors request that the Principal provide them with the name of a teacher who will be most likely to benefit from a Free-To-Read donation. Using the Response Form Letter found in the Principal’s Section of this website, the Principal responds to the potential Donor with the name of a teacher. If the Donor already has a teacher and classroom in mind, the Donor skips Step Two and goes directly to Step Three.
Step Three. Using Donation Form Letter provided in the Donor’s Section, the Donor contacts the Teacher and encloses a donation check for between $250 and $1000 made out in the school’s name. The recipient teacher hand carries the check to their Principal’s office for deposit. Using the Receipt Form Letter found in the Teacher’s Section of this website, the Teacher communicates to the Donor that the check has been received and that the funds are ready for purchasing books.
Step Four. The Teacher purchases children’s literature books for his/her classroom, typically at book distributors’ warehouse sales. Each time a purchase is made the Teacher provides his or her Principal and his or her Donor with a copy of the sales receipt and an updated copy of the Money Monitoring Sheet, provided in the Teacher’s Section of this website. The Money Monitoring Sheet provides the Principal and the Donor with a summary report that includes the amount of money spent and the amount of money remaining. Once the entire donation is spent, the process ends.
Steps One through Four can be repeated as often as schools and classrooms need additional donations. Because the donations are small and they go directly to the children in classrooms, there is a potentially endless supply of donors for the Free-To-Read program
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Policies and procedures for Donors Finding needy schools and Teachers Inquiry Form Letter for Donors Donation Form Letter for Donors
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There are only three steps to making a donation. First, get the school's address. Second, send the Inquiry Form Letter to the Principal of the school in order to get the name of a needy classroom and Teacher. Third, send the Donation Form Letter along with a donation check. Both form letters are provided in the following subsections.
The “Free-To-Read” mission is to get children’s literature books (non-text books) into the hands of needy kids without overhead costs and at a discounted cost per-book-purchased. It is a self-managing, self-monitoring, and self-perpetuating program to connect Donors to Teachers in Grades K through 8th in needy schools in the Donor’s local area. Each Donor is connected directly to the Teacher whose classroom they will help, Teachers report the purchase of books and their costs directly to Donors, and School Principals hold the donated monies while Teachers purchase the books. Donations should be between $250 and $1,000. Smaller donations are not cost or time-effective for the Teachers. There are no overhead or indirect costs; all monies donated go directly to the purchase of books for kids. Classroom text books, teaching aids and other materials may not be purchased with Free-To-Read donations. The use of donated money is limited to the purchase of children’s literature books. Feel free to donate again and again and to more than one classroom at a time.
Reminder. The Free-To-Read program is successful only because Principals, Teachers, and Citizens get their local community members to donate money. This is done by creating awareness of the Free-To-Read program. The FUND-RAISING KIT Section of this website provides all of the instruction and material you need in order to generate donors for the Free-To-Read program. So, if you want to help find additional donors, beyond yourself, work with the Principal of your local elementary school.
Policies and Procedures for Donors
What follows is a set of guidelines and materials that Donors use to participate in the Free-To-Read program. The guidelines are designed to protect you, the Donor, from the misuse of your donations, the teachers from dictatorial Donors and school districts, and the school districts from incurring overhead costs. The ready-to-use materials such as Form Letters and Money Monitoring Sheets are designed to make it quick and easy for you to find teachers with needy kids, donate money to these classrooms, and then to monitor the costs of the books being purchased.
Book publishers offer a wide variety of children’s literature books, and most of them sell at a substantially discounted price during certain times of the year. Teachers can purchase these books at discounted prices at distribution warehouses. Some teachers call this, “Bin Diving” because the on-sale books are often put in large plywood bins from which the teachers shop. Teachers donate their time and often their own money to do this “Bin Diving” because it is one of the only ways they can afford to offer the kids in their classroom any form of literary enrichment. Your donation will be used by the teacher to go “Bin Diving” for books for the kids in her or his classroom.
The choice of books is primarily made by the kids themselves with some supervision by their teacher. It is a conscious decision that Donors not be involved in the selection of books and that teachers have only a supervisory role. It is a fundamental belief that the choice of books for personal enrichment should be made by the kids themselves. It is a fundamental belief that kids will self-select literary works that have personal relevance and value. The necessary range of literature topics is therefore broad. A well-stocked classroom library will include approximately 2,000 books and the topics range from stories about action and adventure, to scientific discovery, to family issues and abuse. The freedom to choose what to read and then to read it is what Free-To-Read is all about.
When you donate you will donate to a specific teacher in a specific classroom. Each time the Teacher uses your donation to purchase books, it is that teacher’s responsibility to use the standard form, the Money Monitoring Sheet, to correspond with you and inform you of the number of books purchased, the amount of money spent, and the running average cost per book purchased. You can expect the average cost to be between two and three dollars per book. You may also, on occasion, receive Thank You Notes from the kids themselves. These notes are sent all at one time in a large envelope by the teacher. You are not expected to respond to the kids’ notes, only to take pleasure in reading them. Finally, for your protection and the protection of the teacher and students, you are not expected nor should you have direct contact with the teacher or the students. If any concerns or issues arise, contact the school’s Principal and work with her/him to resolve the problem.
This concludes the general outline of the policies and procedures for Donors. As you can see, it is a straightforward system. If you like the results of your first donation, you can repeat the donation process as often as you wish. You can choose another teacher at the same school, another school, or stick with the teacher and classroom to which you have already donated. If you really like the results, You can donate to more than one teacher and classroom at a time. Donating to the elementary school that you attended as a child is very popular as well.
Finding Needy Schools and Teachers
There are tens of thousands of public elementary schools in the United States. Every state and almost every town has some very poor school districts. You already know the poorer parts of your own city or broader community; so, donate to them. There are two easy approaches to finding the mailing addresses for a school.
The first approach is to use the internet. Go to www.mapquest.com and select the "Yellow Pages" option located in the upper right hand area of the home page. Scroll down to the bottom of this page and in the general area of "Education and Schools," select "Schools (K-12)." Fill in the city and state information, leave the remaining fields blank, and click the search button. You will see a list of K-12 schools. In this list, all of the public elementary schools will include the word "Elementary" in their names. Once you find the elementary school you are looking for, click on it and the complete address will display. This approach is very effective if you want to make a donation outside your local area; for example, if you want to make a donation to the elementary school you attended as a kid. Once you have the name and address of a school, use the Inquiry Form Letter in the following subsection to contact the school, as the first of two simple steps to making a donation.
The second approach is to get the mailing address for a school from the White Pages of your local phone book. Begin by looking up the city name that includes the low income community. When you find the city name in the phone book, you will see a large number of subsections. Find the subsection titled, “School District” or “Unified School District,” and therein look for the subsection titled, “Schools.” The Schools subsection will list all of the elementary and middle schools in that district and their addresses. If you are uncertain about which school to contact, phone the town’s Unified School District’s Administrative Offices, explain that you plan to make a Free-To-Read donation and ask for the name of one of the needy schools in the district. Once you have the name and address of a school, you use the Inquiry Form Letter in the following subsection to contact the school, as the first of two simple steps to making a donation.
Inquiry Form Letter for Donors
Teachers just beginning their career stand to gain the most from a Free-To-Read donation. This is because they have not had the time or opportunity to create a classroom library of children’s literature books for their kids. Teachers like to have as many as 2,000 books in the classroom for their kids. This seemly large number reflects the truly broad interests that the kids have, multiplied by the number of books each of the 25 to 35 kids in the classroom will read in a single school year. Given this consideration, the following form letter is provided for you to use to identify a needy teacher and classroom.
View this form letter by selecting the Donor Inquiry Letter button below. You will first see an image of the form letter as it will be printed. Print the Donor Inquiry Letter by selecting the printer icon button and then filling in the blank lines after it is printed out. Remember your donation should be between $250 and $1000. Donations smaller than $250 are neither time nor cost effective for the Teacher. After printing the letter, you can return to the FreeToRead website by clicking the exit button at the top right corner of your browser.
Donation Form Letter for Donors.
Once the School’s Principal has responded to your request to identify a teacher-recipient or if you already know the name of the teacher to whom you wish to donate, send the following letter along with your donation check made out to the school's name. You are mailing the check to the teacher but the check is made out to the school’s name. By mailing it to the teacher you are alerting her/him to the fact that the donation has been made. By having the teacher hand carry the check to the Principal’s Office, the teacher will ensure that your check is deposited in a timely manner and the funds are available for book purchases. In one or two weeks you will receive a form letter from the teacher acknowledging receipt of your donation and an estimate of when the first books will be purchased.
Print a copy of this form letter by selecting the option below. You will first see an image of the form letter as it will be printed. Print the letter by selecting the selecting the printer icon button and then fill in the blank lines after it is printed out. Remember your donation should be between $250 and $1000. Donations smaller than $250 are neither time nor cost effective for the Teacher. After printing the letter, you can return to the FreeToRead website by clicking the exit button at the top right corner of your browser.
Once you receive a donation, there are only three steps to properly use the funds. First, you must send the Donor the Donation Acceptance Form Letter acknowledging your receipt and acceptance of the donation. Second, using the Purchase Notification Form Letter and the Money Monitoring Sheet, you must keep the Donor and your Principal informed of your book purchases. These forms are provided in the subsections below. The third step is to have the kids write Feedback Notes to the Donor.
Responding to a Donation Letter
The remainder of this section provides instructions for Teachers who have received a Donation Form Letter and a check of $250 or more from a Donor. The Free-To-Read program provides an entire structure, complete with essential checks and balances to protect the integrity of the system and its participants. Thus, if you participate in the Free-To-Read program, you are required to follow the policies and procedures provided in this section of the website.
Reminder. The Free-To-Read program is successful only because Principals, Teachers, and Citizens get their local community members to donate money. This is done by creating awareness of the Free-To-Read program. The FUND-RAISING KIT Section of this website provides all of the instruction and material you need in order to generate donors for the Free-To-Read program. So, if you want to help, work with the Principal of your local elementary school and use the Fund-Raising Kit to find donors.
Form Letters and Procedures for Teachers
As a recipient of a Free-To-Read donation, it is absolutely essential for you to follow the guidelines provided below. Following these guidelines serve a number of critical purposes: First, it provides an acceptable measure of accountability that protects both you and the Donor. Second, the guidelines provide a standardized way of keeping in touch and building a professional relationship with the Donor. Third, it makes it possible for the Donor to get a real and personal sense for the good his or her money is doing. Finally, following these guidelines results in a happy Donor who will talk to other potential Donors who may also donate to the Free-To-Read program.
For the protection of the Students, the Teachers, and the Donors use only the Form Letters provided here at this website and do not have telephone or direct contact with Donors. All necessary and recommended communication can be accomplished using the Form Letters and Money Monitoring Sheets provided below. Donors have been given these same instructions.
Step One: Accepting the donation. As you probably know, your first contact with the Donor will be a Donation Form Letter from them indicating that they are making a donation of a specified amount of money to your classroom. The donation will be between $250 and $1000. Included with the letter will be a check written to your school for the amount specified in the letter. Make sure the amount of the check and the amount specified in the letter are the same. Make and keep a photocopy of the letter and check and then hand carry the letter and check to your Principal. Your Principal will deposit the check in a school bank account, thereby making the funds available to you for purchasing children’s literature books for your classroom. The funds can be used for no other purpose.
Immediately after receiving the donation send the following Acceptance Form Letter to the Donor. This will let the Donor know that you have received the donation and that you will begin the process of purchasing books.
Print a copy of this form letter by selecting the option below. You will first see an image of the form letter as it will be printed. Print the letter by selecting the selecting the printer icon button and then fill in the blank lines after it is printed out. After printing the letter, you can return to the FreeToRead website by clicking the exit button at the top right corner of your browser.
Step Two: Keeping Donor and Principal Informed.. Immediately after completing your first Free-To-Read book purchase, make two photocopies of your sales receipt. Next, complete the first line of the Money Monitoring Sheet and then make two photocopies of it. Send one copy of the Money Monitoring Sheet to our Principal. Staple the other copy of the Money Monitoring Sheet to the following Purchase Notification Form Letter and mail it to the Donor. You should keep the original Money Monitoring Sheet because each time you make a book purchase, no matter how large or small, you will fill out the next line in this form and repeat Step 3. You will continue to repeat Step 3 until you have spent the entire donation.
Print copies of the Purchase Notification Form Letter and the Money Monitoring Sheet by selecting these options below. You will first see an image of the document as it will be printed. Print the document by selecting the printer icon button and then fill in the blank lines after it is printed out. Since you will be mailing a separate Purchase Notification Letter to the Donor each time you make a book purchase, you may save time my by printing several copies at one time. After printing, you can return to the FreeToRead website by clicking the exit button at the top right corner of your browser.
Step Three: Feedback Notes. This step has the potential to greatly enhance the Free-To-Read experience for you, your students, and your donor. After your first book purchase and after your students have had a chance to read some of the books, invite your students to write “Feedback Notes” notes to the Donor. These notes can take any form but notes written on scrap paper that cost your classroom no money is a good choice. Let the students write personal “Feedback Notes” notes including what they have read and why they liked reading it. Allow them to add artwork to their notes; it adds fun and liveliness to the note writing process. To protect the children’s privacy, have them sign the notes using only their initials. Put all of these notes, along with our own personal cover note, in a large envelope and mail it to the Donor. You might consider doing this after your first book purchase and just after your final book purchase. If your donor is a local business, club, or corporation, indicate in your cover note that it is okay for them to display the kid’s notes.
No matter how tough or business minded your donor is, the kids’ “Feedback Notes” cannot help but pull at their heartstrings. It is very likely that these notes, along with your Money Monitoring reports, will lead to more donations by your donor and friends or associates of your donor.
Where and When to Buy Books
The Free-To-Read donations should be used exclusively to purchase brand new children’s literature books. Please keep in mind that the average price you spend on books is part of your report to the Donor. The Donor evaluates your efficiency by comparing this number to the nationwide average that all teachers are spending on Free-To-Read. The national average is between $2 and $3 per book.
You can never know exactly where or when you will run into great book deals. Catalogues, retail book stores, and online bookstores all have discounted book sales. You may find that any and all of these are good sources for buying for Free-To-Read. One sure bet is the annual or biannual book sales offered by your local schoolbook distribution center or warehouse. These warehouse sales offer really great deals that many teachers are already taking advantage of. Buying at these sales is frequently referred to as “Bin Diving” because the discounted sale books are often located in large bins. These warehouse sales are ideal venues for making Free-To-Read purchases. The books are inexpensive, so your cost per book will be comparable to other teachers in the Free-To-Read program. The books are new and of a predictable quality, so you can expect them to last a number of years. Finally, the books are deemed appropriate for the students in your classroom, so you have a good deal of support for the choice of books, should there ever be a parental concern over book content.
As much as possible, your students should select the literature books you purchase. It is a fundamental belief that kids will read books that most closely meet their personal interests and needs. In effect, kids will naturally seek out the books that are personally relevant and therefore the most self fulfilling to read. On the other hand, students will often come to you for help in selecting books to read. Based on your knowledge of the individual student and the books that are available, you are probably the best person in the world to select books for students seeking help. If you choose wisely, the student’s trust in you and in book reading grows. If you choose poorly the student’s interest in reading declines. Yours is a weighty responsibility.
PRINCIPAL’S SECTION
You have only two responsibilities associated with accepting a Free-To-Read donation. First, using the Choice of Teacher Form Letter provided below, you send the Donor the name of a needy Teacher and classroom. Second, your school needs to hold the balance of the donation while the Teacher buys books.
Procedures for Principals
The Free-To-Read program is unique in the sense that it makes it possible to connect Donors to classrooms, with the express purpose of providing children’s literature books to kids. It is also unique because there are no indirect or overhead costs associated with this program. Every dollar donated goes directly toward the purchase of literature books for kids. Equally important is that you have virtually no paperwork to do in order to receive these donations. This is possible because there is no organization running this charitable program: It runs itself. Zero overhead cost makes Free-To-Read an attractive charity for Donors and classrooms. The principal’s office is required only to provide Donors with names of Teachers who would most benefit from the Free-To-Read program and to deposit the donated funds in a bank account for safe keeping.
Reminder. The Free-To-Read program is successful only because Principals, Teachers, and Citizens get their local community members to donate money. This is done by creating awareness of the Free-To-Read program. The FUND-RAISING KIT Section of this website provides all of the instruction and material you need in order to generate donors for the Free-To-Read program. So, if you want to help, work with the Principal of your local elementary school and use the Fund-Raising Kit to find donors.
All communication between the Principal, the Teacher, and the Donor is through the Form letters provided at this website. For the protection of everyone involved, no other communication is recommended. All cost-accounting reports are completed and distributed to the Principal’s Office and to the Donor by the Teacher who receives the donation. Once a Teacher is selected, your only responsibility is to release the donated funds to the teacher as he or she requests them. Consult with your Accounting Office to determine how to most conveniently disburse the donated money to the Teacher.
The Flow of Communication
Step One. First, using the Inquiry Form Letter found in the DONOR’S SECTION of this website, the Donor may contact your office. In this letter the Donor will request that you provide the name of the Teacher you think will most benefit from a Free-To-Read donation. Using the “Response Form Letter” found below, your first step will be to provide the potential Donor with the name of the Teacher you choose. If the Donor already has a teacher and classroom in mind, your first contact instead will be Step Two.
Step Two. Next, using a form letter provided in the Donor’s Section, the Donor will contact the Teacher and, along with the letter, the Donor will provide a check made out to the school’s name. The recipient teacher will hand-carry the check to your office for you to deposit. The donation amount will be between $250 and $1000. Using the Acceptance Form Letter found in the TEACHER’S SECTION of this website, the teacher will communicate to the Donor that the check has been received and that the funds are ready for distribution.
Step Three. Finally, the Teacher will purchase children’s literature books for his/her classroom. Each time a purchase is made, the Teacher will provide you and the Donor with a copy of the sales receipt and an updated copy of the Money Monitoring Sheet, provided in the TEACHER’S SECTION of this website. The Money Monitoring Sheet provides you and the Donor with a summary report that includes the amount of money spent and the amount of money remaining to be spent. Once the entire donation is spent, the process ends.
Nominating a Classroom
All Teachers would benefit from donations. If asked by the Donor, your task is to decide which Teacher will benefit the most. The following ideas may help you to choose one from all of your school’s Teachers. New Teachers who have not had time to acquire a classroom library are likely to get the most benefit out of a Free-To-Read donation. The next most needy Teachers are those who have recently transferred to your school and must rebuild their classroom library. Normally, a school will have no more than one or two brand-new teachers in any given school year so the choice becomes fairly easy, if you base it solely on reverse tenure.
Response Form Letter for Principals
To respond to a potential Donor who requests the name of a teacher, please use the following Form Letter. Print a copy of this form letter by selecting the option below. You will first see an image of the form letter as it will be printed. Print the letter by selecting the selecting the printer icon button and then fill in the blank lines after it is printed out. After printing the letter, you can return to the FreeToRead website by clicking the exit button at the top right corner of your browser.
FUND-RAISING KIT
This FUND-RAISING KIT provides the instructions and printable materials needed to get Donors for your school's classrooms.
Procedures for Principals and Teachers
The Free-To-Read program depends on your getting donations from members of your local community. You do this by creating awareness of the Free-To-Read program. Whether you are a Teacher or Principal, you can create this awareness and find donors for your school's classrooms.
There are many community-based organizations and businesses that donate routinely and are constantly on the lookout for cost-effective programs to fund. There are two traditional ways to ask for donations. First, you can contact your local news media and ask them to do an article on the Free-To-Read program. Second, you can make direct contact with local community clubs, organizations, and businesses and ask them to donate to the Free-To-Read program. Either alone or in combination, these approaches produce donations.
The first part of this subsection provides guidance to help you effectively communicate with news reporters. The second part of this subsection gives you guidance for contacting and working directly with local clubs, organizations, and businesses who routinely donate to needy causes within their community. As you read these subsections it is important to keep in mind that the easier you make it for people to help you, the more help you will get.
Reminder. The Free-To-Read program is successful only because Principals, Teachers, and Citizens get their local community members to donate money. This is done by creating awareness of the Free-To-Read program. The FUND-RAISING KIT provides all of the instruction and material you need in order to generate donors for the Free-To-Read program. So, if you want to help, work with the Principal of your local elementary school and use the Fund-Raising Kit to find donors.
What you should not do. It may cross your mind to solicit amounts smaller than the required $250 and then to aggregate these smaller amounts into $250 units that you then donate to classrooms. This approach to fund raising, whatever form it may take, is not permitted as part of the Free-To-Read program. There are three reasons for this prohibition: First, too much time, effort, and liability is involved in collecting the minimum $250 donation; it’s just not good economics. Second, the people making the donations do not work directly with the classroom teachers and therefore the personal rewards of working with a classroom and the built-in checks and balances are not in effect. Finally, this approach lacks control and too easily allows for the introduction of indirect or overhead charges by the people and organizations involved the charity events. Any form of overhead fee, expense reimbursement, or indirect cost fee is strictly prohibited by the Free-To-Read program. Your target donors are individuals, community-based organizations, and local businesses who can make a $250 or larger donation.
Working with Your Local Media.
It is important that you do everything you can to make the reporter’s job easy. The most important thing is to give the reporters all of the raw content they need in order to create a story about donating through the Free-To-Read program. Reporters need content that includes the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of donating to Free-To-Read. This content allows the reporter to tell a coherent story that helps Donors first to understand and then to respond to your request for donations.
Step One. Getting to the right reporter. The general procedure is to first telephone or visit your town’s local papers, radio stations, and television stations and ask for the desk that handles “Community Events” or “Local Events.” Along the way to getting to the right reporter, you may be asked your purpose by different people. Do not hesitate to tell them who you are and what you are doing. They will help you get to the right reporter. You will eventually get to a reporter who can help you.
Step Two. Tell a brief and coherent story. Explain to the reporter who you are and that you want to get local people, organizations, and businesses to donate money to your school’s classrooms through the Free-To-Read program. Emphasize the following points. First, the entire program is coordinated through the Free-To-Read website and that the website makes it possible for Donors to quickly and easily give directly to individual classrooms. Second, there is no overhead or indirect costs associated with the Free-To-Read program and as a result, 100% of their donation goes directly to the purchase of children’s literature books. Third, after the donation is made, the classroom teacher will communicate with the donor regularly to inform him or her of the number of books purchased and their costs. Finally, emphasize that the donations are small and can range from $250 to $1,000. If you are speaking with the reporters in person, give them the Press Packet provided in the final subsection of this section. If you are talking to them over the phone, tell them that you have a Press Packet and that you can hand carry or FAX it to them immediately.
Step Three. Follow up with the reporter. After giving them the Press Packet make a second follow-up call to the reporters with whom you spoke. You do this because it is very likely that they will need a few more questions answered before they can create a news story about you and the Free-To-Read program. Consider inviting the reporters to your school so they can visit one or more classrooms. If they want to visit, make a firm appointment time and encourage them to bring a photographer so they can include photos with their article.
Be prepared for the following questions.
Question: Why donate through the Free-To-Read website, why not just donate directly to the school? Answer: The Free-To-Read website provides all the necessary structure including checks and balances that a non-profit organization would provide but without the indirect costs of hiring staff and renting physical office space. The website also makes it very fast and easy for everyone involved because it provides all of the necessary form letters that the Donor and School use to communicate with each other.
Question: Why is children’s literature important? Answer: Children’s literature provides a safe and effective way for kids to explore and gain some understanding of the world around them. It is a window to environments and lifestyles beyond their immediate community. It provides a road map to careers that would otherwise be beyond their reach. It provides them with insight and psychological support in matters of home, family, love, and friendship.
Question: Do kids really want to read literature books? Answer: Yes. In fact you might say kids are drawn to children’s literature through their natural curiosity about the world in which they live. Children’s literature provides answers to questions they want answered. Kids and children’s literature are a very natural fit.
Question: What kind of stories do the kids like to read and who chooses the books? Answer: There some popular books that most kids want to read. Beyond those books, interests vary based on the individual kid’s life experiences and interests. Some want to read about home and family issues. Some want to read about adventure in foreign lands. Some want to read about science and discovery. While the teacher often provides guidance and recommendations, the kids are free to choose what they read. In general terms they read to explore and gain insight.
Question: Why do you want your students to read children’s literature books? Answer: As teachers, we are all interested in giving kids the skills they need to succeed in life. Teaching kids to read is the first step. The next step is to help kids understand that they can use their newly acquired reading skills to enrich and improve their lives. Children’s literature does just that.
These are all important questions and the Reporter is asking them to try and deal with Donors' potential objections and to get at the “human interest” aspect of the Free-To-Read program. The Reporter knows that if they can communicate the drama and personal aspects of kids reading literature books, Donors are more likely to donate. So, do not hesitate to tell Reporters a few of the more heart warming experiences you have had as part of introducing kids to children’s literature
Working Directly with Local Organizations and Businesses.
The procedures for making contact with clubs, organizations, and businesses are much the same as those you use with the news media. Begin by phoning or visiting the clubs, organizations, and businesses and explain who you are, your purpose for making contact, and then ask for the person who handles community gifts and donations. For each organization, you will eventually be connected to the right person and this will be your Contact Person for that site. Then, continue by following the steps outlined above in the Working With Local Media subsection.
Your Contact Person may make a donation based on your phone conversation. Or, you may be invited to come and give a presentation at their organization. Your Contact Person is asking you to give a presentation because he or she believes that there is a good chance that their members will want to make a donation. Having you give a brief five-minute presentation is the fastest way your Contact Person has of getting membership consensus for making a donation.
Prepare for your five-minute presentation by first printing five or six copies of the Press Packet located in the last subsection of this section. The Press Packet includes both Press Releases and Information Sheets. If you have already had the local news paper publish an article on the Free-To-Read project, be sure to make photocopies and include them with the Information Sheets. Put each copy of the Press Packet in separate folders as described in the Working with the Local Media subsection. Bring these copies with you to distribute at the presentation. Use the first three pages of the Information Sheets as the basis of your talk. Practice your presentation ahead of time so that you can give it in five minutes or less. Your audience's time is valuable and they will not want your presentation to last longer than five minutes.
Immediately after you give your presentation you may be asked to leave the room so they can put the matter to a vote. If they invite you back in to tell you that they will give a donation, you should immediately bring out the fourth Information Sheet which is a fill-in-the-blanks donation form letter. Fill it out right then and there and, hopefully, they will present you with a check at the same time.
When you receive a promise for a donation but are not actually given a check, it is important to continue to work with your Contact Person from that club or organization. As soon as possible, sit down at a computer with your contact and go to the Free-To-Read website. Give them a detailed tour of the Donor Section of the website. Make it clear to your contact person that the donation process is easy and requires that they send, at most, only two of the already written form letters. At this time, print out the two Donor’s Letters so that your contact has them in hand. If you already know the name of the Teacher’s Classroom that will receive the donation, fill it in so that the only thing the Donor is left to do is mail the donation check along with the form letter to the Teacher. Make a follow-up phone call to your contact in about two weeks to make sure that he or she has sent the check and that the Teacher receiving the donation has mailed them the Acknowledgment Form Letter. The time you are spending with your contact person is important because you are laying the foundation for a long term relationship and for future donations to the Free-To-Read program. In deed, next year you may need only to make one phone call to your contacts at the various organizations in order to receive new donations.
Finally, when you have established a good working relation with your local clubs, organizations, and businesses you may find that they are willing to help you find new Donors through their personal contacts. Many club members will have friends and business contacts who may be willing Donors to the Free-To-Read program. The following section provides guidelines to club and community organization members who want to help you find new Donors. You can direct your contacts to the following section to help give them guidance.
Fund Raising Instructions for Organizations and Businesses
You are probably reading this because an elementary school in your community has contacted your organization and is asking for your help in finding donors for the Free-To-Read program. One important point to remember is that each donation goes to a specific classroom and that the classroom’s teacher is required to not only buy the books but also to provide all the expenditure reporting to the Donor and to their school Principal. So, donations smaller than $250 are just not time or cost effective for the Teachers. Another important point to remember is that 100% of the donations go directly to the purchase of children’s literature books. There are no overhead or indirect costs associated with the Free-To-Read program. You, personally, may have already made one or more donations and already know these and other aspects of the program. On the other hand, if you are not familiar with the Free-To-Read program please read the introductory sections of this website to gain some familiarity with the policies and procedures associated with the Free-To-Read program.
How to Proceed and What to Say to Prospective Donors
There are two general approaches that clubs and organizations may think of to get donations for the Free-To-Read program. The first approach is acceptable, but, the second approach is not acceptable.
What you should do. The first approach is to target your personal contacts, community members, and organizations who can give at least the minimum $250 donation. As a community member in good standing and of a reasonably high profile, it is probably best for you and your organization’s members to solicit these Donors directly by personal contact. When you make personal contact with potential Donors, be prepared to explain the Free-To-Read program in just three or four sentences. Print out the “Press Kit” found in the following subsection and from it use the “Information Sheets” to organize your presentation. You can also make copies of the entire Press Kit as handouts to potential Donors.
When talking to potential Donors, be sure to cover the following points: First, as a Donor they will receive written communications from the classroom, including “Thank You” notes from the kids and expenditure reports from the Teacher. Second, be sure to mention that the donations are small, beginning at only $250. Finally, emphasize that every dollar of their donation goes toward purchasing books and that there are no overhead costs charged against their donation. Many middle and high income citizens will donate almost immediately after they hear these points.
Once someone agrees to donate, you will need to explain that donating is a two-step process, designed to insure that their money gets into the most deserving hands. The first step is for the Donor to mail the Donor’s “Inquiry Form Letter” to the School Principal, so that the Principal can mail the Donor the name of a Teacher who will benefit most from the donation. The second step is for the Donor to use the “Donation Form Letter” to mail the check to the teacher. It is extremely important to show the Donor the Free-To-Read website so he or she gets a complete idea of how the Free-To-Read program works. If you are using the Donor’s computer, ‘bookmark’ the Free-To-Read website so it will be easy for the donor to come back to the site. If you are using some other computer, go ahead and print out both of the Donor’s Form Letters. You should help the Donor fill in and mail the “Inquiry Form Letter.” Then, all the Donor will have to do after the School's Principal mails them the name of a Teacher, is fill to in the “Donation Form Letter” with the Teacher’s name and enclose a check. About three weeks after mailing in the “Inquiry Form Letter,” contact the Donor and make sure everything is proceeding smoothly.
You may be wondering why you should go to all of the time and trouble of getting the donor connected to the website, the school, and the classroom. Why not just collect a check from the donor and handle the contact with the school yourself? The reason is that your additional effort is actually creating a solid Donor and School relationship. There is a good chance that once a Donor becomes familiar with the process, he or she will want to make additional donations. Thus, by helping the donor through the initial experience you may actually create a Donor who will continue on his or her own, year after year.
What you should not do. The second way to collect donations is to solicit amounts smaller than the required $250 through “bake-sales” and the like and then aggregate these smaller amounts into $250 units that your club or organization then donates to classrooms. This second approach is not permitted as part of the Free-To-Read program. There are three reasons for this prohibition: First, too much time, effort, and liability is involved in collecting the minimum $250 donation; it’s just not good economics. Second, the people making the donations do not work directly with the classroom teachers and therefore the personal rewards of working with a classroom and the built-in checks and balances are not in effect. Finally, this approach lacks control and too easily allows for the introduction of indirect or overhead charges by the people and organizations involved in the charity events.
Any form of overhead fee, expense reimbursement, or indirect cost fee is strictly prohibited by the Free-To-Read program.
Press Packets are used to get the word out about newsworthy events. Reporters use them as a basis for creating stories. You can use the following printable Press Packet to get the word out about Free-To-Read. The Press Packet includes two Press Releases and four Information Sheets about children’s literature and the Free-To-Read program. The first press release is designed to be from the Principal’s Office and is intended to get your school’s name out into the media so that your school’s classrooms receive the donations. You must fill in the missing information and may make any other modifications to the school's Press Release that seem appropriate, so long as you do not misrepresent the Free-To-Read program. The second press release is general in nature and does not mention your school specifically. It is intended to represent the Donor’s perspective. The second Press Release is a true and accurate release and should not be modified. The four Information Sheets that follow the Press Releases help to provide the detail information that the reporter will need in order to create a news article.
To improve the presentation of the Press Packet, print it out using a color printer and put it in a heavy stock folder with left and right inside pockets. Put the Press Releases in the left pocket and the four Information Sheets in the right pocket. Finally, staple your business card to the right hand pocket flap. You should prepare a number of these Press Packet and have them ready to give to Reporters and potential Donors.
Print a copy of the Press Packet by selecting the option below. When you select the print option, you will first see an image of the forms as they will be printed. Since you may distribute the Press Packet to a number of different media groups and organizations, you may save time by printing a number of copies at one time. A separate, editable copy of the press release from the Principal’s Office is provided below. This copy is in Rich Text Format (RTF) and you will be able to edit it using your computer's word processor. When you click on the "School Press Release" button it will most likely cause you computer's word processor to activate and the press release will be displayed in it. At this time you can either edit the document to include the school specific information or you can simply save the document and make the changes at a later time. After printing, you can return to the FreeToRead website by clicking the exit button at the top right corner of your browser.
