Donate

Donate Online or via check!

Friends of African Village Libraries relies heavily on donations from people like you. The benefit of giving to an organization like Friends of African Village Libraries is that a little money goes a long way in rural Sub-Saharan Africa.
To donate by check (preferred, because no service charges)
Please send your name, address and a check to:
Friends of African Village Libraries
P.O. Box 90533
San Jose, CA 95109-3533

Donate via Paypal or credit card (small service charge applies)

Donate with PayPal

The establishment of a library costs only $5,000, and it means that hundreds of village children and adults will gain access to books. Since FAVL is a small organization powered by dedicated volunteers, overhead costs are extremely low. This means that your money will be spent on buying books, installing solar panels to supply light in reading rooms, training librarians and building new libraries.

We appreciate and need your generosity! And when we say that your gift goes a long way in Africa, here is what we mean:

  • $10 – Covers the purchase of two new African novels, or other valuable reading material
  • $20 – Covers a librarians monthly trip to the monthly regional meeting of librarians, which allows the librarians to keep in meet with FAVL staff, get training, report on library activities, and connect with other librarians.
  • $100 – Covers one librarian’s salary for a month. Most librarians work half-time, and are generally paid half the salary of a schoolteacher.
  • $500 – Covers the cost of locally purchasing an entire shelf of 100 quality locally-published children’s books.
  • $500 – Pays for the purchase of bookshelves, tables and chairs for a library
  • $1,200 – Covers the cost and installation of solar panels for a library. Solar energy is a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way of providing light in the reading room after the sun sets at around 6 p.m.
  • $2,500 – Covers the refurbishment of a building to be used for an entire new library.
  • $5,000 – Covers enough to establish a new library… your donation will be the founding donation.

(Note: Current FAVL policy is to not establish new libraries until an endowment goal of $15,000 has been reached: $5,000 for startup and $10,000 for librarian salaries, management oversight, book stock renewal, and maintenance over the following years.