Books For Africa

What Books For Africa does

Books For Africa is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization founded in 1988 and headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that collects, sorts, and ships donated print and digital books to schools, libraries, and institutions across all 55 African countries. The organization operates two warehouses (Saint Paul, MN and Marietta, GA) that process donated books from publishers, organizations, and individuals, which are then shipped in 40-foot sea containers carrying approximately 25,000 books each to partner organizations. Better World Books serves as the largest single supplier, contributing 14 semi-trailer loads of university and library books in a single calendar year.

The organization's core offering is a book donation and shipping service complemented by specialized initiatives including the Girls Empowerment Collections, French Books Initiative, Law & Democracy Initiative, Agricultural Libraries, and BFA Publishing. Digital distribution is handled through a Digital Books Program that has shipped over 500,000 digital books on 163 computers and e-readers. The Soma Safari initiative, launched in 2025 in Kenya, represents an evolution toward structured community-based Book Ecosystems in partnership with Kenya National Library Service and other institutional collaborators.

Books For Africa operates on a donation-funded nonprofit model with revenue streams including individual donations (one-time and recurring across tiers from $50 to $11,500), corporate and foundation grants, planned giving through the Legacy Society, and in-kind book contributions. The organization mobilizes over 9,000 volunteers annually and ships books through a Container Captain Program that enables project leaders to coordinate shipments to specific countries. Distribution is direct-to-recipient via African partner organizations, with the organization holding a Four-Star Charity Navigator rating and GuideStar Exchange Seal for accountability.

Name

Books For Africa

Legal name

Books For Africa

Website

https://booksforafrica.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Books For Africa is a nonprofit founded in 1988 that collects, sorts, and ships donated print and digital books to schools, libraries, and institutions across all 55 African countries, having shipped over 65 million books since inception.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Book Distribution Services

NAICS

Book, Periodical, and Newspaper Merchant Wholesalers (424920), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Educational & Academic Publishing Distribution (Textbooks) (CRAOALAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

eBook & Digital Reading Platforms (BPAMAJAK)

Keywords

• International book donation
• Nonprofit literacy programs
• Educational book distribution
• Library resource shipping
• Container shipping services

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Paul

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute funds to support shipping costs for books to Africa. Donations can be made as one-time or recurring gifts, with specific projects or general funding options available.
2. Corporate and Foundation Grants: Organizations and foundations provide funding support for book shipments and operational costs.
3. Planned Giving / Legacy Society: Donors can include Books For Africa in their estate plans through wills, IRA beneficiary designations, or other planned giving instruments.
4. Book Donations: New or gently used books are donated and sorted at warehouses for shipment to Africa. The value of donated books represents in-kind contribution to their mission.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Books For Africa collects donated new and gently used books from publishers, individuals, and organizations across the United States, sorts them at warehouses in Saint Paul, MN and Marietta, GA, and ships them by 40-foot sea container to schools, libraries, and institutions across all 55 African countries. The organization supplements physical book distribution with digital content delivered on computers and e-readers, and operates specialized initiatives including Girls Empowerment Collections, French Books Initiative, Law & Democracy Initiative, Agricultural Libraries, BFA Publishing, and the Soma Safari community literacy initiative.

Product overview

Books For Africa operates as a nonprofit book donation and distribution organization rather than a traditional technology company. The core offering is a book donation and shipping service that collects, sorts, and ships donated books, digital books on devices, and library materials to all 55 African countries. The organization runs several special initiatives including Girls Empowerment Collections, French Books Initiative (shipping French books from France to Francophone Africa), Law & Democracy Initiative, Agricultural Libraries, and BFA Publishing. Additional services include donate funds/donate books platforms, volunteer programs at warehouses in Minnesota and Georgia, the Legacy Society planned giving program, and the Container Captain Program for project coordination. The Soma Safari initiative, launched in 2025, represents a collaborative literacy program building community-based book ecosystems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BFA Publishing: Publishing initiative by Books For Africa
• Girls Empowerment Collections
• Law & Democracy Initiative
• Agricultural Libraries
• French Books Initiative

Products and services

• Book Donation and Shipping Service Core service collecting donated new and gently used books from publishers, individuals, and organizations across the United States, sorting them at warehouses in Minnesota and Georgia, and shipping them in 40-foot sea containers (each carrying approximately 25,000 books) to recipient schools, libraries, and institutions across all 55 African countries.
• Girls Empowerment Collections Special initiative providing books and educational materials specifically aimed at empowering girls across Africa, addressing gender disparity in literacy and educational access.
• French Books Initiative Program supplying 20-foot containers totaling approximately 25,000 French-language reading and school books to Francophone African countries, coordinated with French book supply chains.
• Law & Democracy Initiative Special initiative providing legal and democratic education materials to support rule of law and civic education across African countries.
• Agricultural Libraries Initiative Special initiative focused on establishing and stocking agricultural libraries to support farming education and food security in Africa.
• BFA Publishing Publishing initiative by Books For Africa producing and distributing educational content tailored to African educational needs.
• Digital Books Program Program shipping digital books loaded on computers and e-readers to African partners, having delivered over 500,000 digital books on 163 computers and e-readers to date.
• Container Captain Program Program enabling individual advocates to lead fundraising campaigns and coordinate specific book shipments to designated countries or projects in Africa, using dedicated project pages on the BFA website.
• Soma Safari Community-based literacy initiative launched in Kenya in 2025 establishing sustainable 'Book Ecosystems' in partnership with Kenya National Library Service (KNLS), Knowledge Empowering Youth Libraries (KEY), Little Free Library, and San José State University School of Information.

Quantifiable outcome

• 65+ million books shipped to all 55 African countries since 1988
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Kenya National Library Service (KNLS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Collaborative partner in the Soma Safari project to establish sustainable, community-based Book Ecosystems in Kenya. The pilot launched in 2025 with a full shipping container of 52,000 books.
• Knowledge Empowering Youth Libraries (KEY)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partner in the Soma Safari project alongside Kenya National Library Service and Books For Africa.
• Little Free LibraryminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partner in the Soma Safari project providing Little Free Library book-sharing boxes for community distribution.
• San José State University School of InformationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Academic partner in the Soma Safari project, contributing expertise in library science and information management.
• Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Received 35,000 nursing textbooks and 5,000 reading/textbooks for Kibera Girls Soccer Academy through Louis Brownstone's nursing education project.
• Better World BookscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBetter World Books is BFA's largest single supplier of university and library books, having shipped 14 semi trailer loads of books to BFA in a single calendar year. They provide donated books from their book drives and sales operations.
• The Bythiah ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for French book distribution in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The Bythiah Project works with local youths and a government education agency to distribute books to schools and libraries.
• World Computer Exchange, Inc.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic alliance with Books For Africa and INDESEEM, Inc. to bring more educational materials including computers to Liberia and the African continent.
• UNHCR Dadaab Refugee CampminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFirst library established at Dadaab Refugee Camp (population ~200,000) in Kenya through Louis Brownstone's project.
• Shoe4Africa Children's HospitalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLibrary established at Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya through Louis Brownstone's container project.
• WorldWide HealthStaff Solutions (WWHS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWWHS has partnered with Books For Africa since 2022, helping increase volume of books distributed. Through the partnership, over 100,000 medical and nursing books have been donated across Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Malawi.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Worldreader: Nonprofit focused on digital reading in low-income countries, distributing e-books via mobile devices. Directly comparable on the digital-books vertical BFA is expanding into.
• African Library Project: US-based nonprofit that organizes book drives and ships books to start libraries in African schools. Operates an almost identical collect-and-ship model at smaller scale.
• Room to Read: Global nonprofit focused on literacy and girls' education, including establishing school libraries and publishing local-language children's books. Comparable mission and library-building model, with broader publishing operations.
• Better World Books: BFA's largest single book supplier; collects and sells used books globally and donates a portion of proceeds and inventory to literacy nonprofits. Highly comparable as a book redistribution operator, though it is also a commercial reseller.
• Book Aid International: UK-based charity that ships donated books to libraries and schools across sub-Saharan Africa. Closest like-for-like peer in mission, model, and target geographies.

Others

• World Computer Exchange: Nonprofit that refurbishes and ships computers to schools in developing countries. Already a BFA partner; adjacent as a complementary technology-to-schools distributor.
• Little Free Library: Nonprofit that builds and stewards small book-sharing boxes globally; an active BFA partner on the Soma Safari Kenya project. Comparable as a community library steward adjacent to BFA's literacy mission.

Emerging players

• Pratham Books / StoryWeaver: India-based nonprofit publisher that creates and freely licenses multilingual children's books for low-income contexts. Comparable as an open educational-content publisher with developing-market focus.
• Library For All: Nonprofit building digital library platforms for underserved communities in developing countries. Comparable in the digital distribution leg of BFA's operations.

Broad incumbents

• Scholastic: Large children's book publisher and distributor with substantial education-market reach. Comparable as a scaled book publisher/distributor relevant to BFA's content sourcing and potential partners.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCXOzfZgItIsIPp_0MiryirQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/booksforafrica
• Instagraminstagram.com/booksforafrica
• Xx.com/BooksForAfrica
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/books-for-africa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Books For Africa