At BooksForTopics, we guide thousands of schools to find the best books for pupils with our recommended reads and book lists covering a wide range of themes and curriculum topics. However, we understand that schools’ budgets are stretched and that buying new books regularly may not be affordable.

To help create the inclusive and attractive library your pupils deserve, why not consider fundraising to generate money for new books for your school? Many schools are already embracing fundraising as an effective way to engage parents (and sometimes even the local community) with the importance of reading for pleasure.

As well as being the official school supplier for our tried-and-tested book packs, our partner book supplier Peters runs a free fundraising platform for schools, Support Your School, that makes it easy for schools to raise money from parents and local businesses to buy books and boost literacy. You can use the platform to raise funds to purchase packs of our books from our popular booklists, supplied by Peters.

The curriculum experts at Peters have put together some useful tips on how to kickstart and run a fundraising campaign for books.

How to gain support for your school’s fundraising for books campaign

Start with your story

What do you want to raise funds for and how can you share this as a compelling story? You may wish to ask parents or local businesses to donate to help your school to buy:

• A range of diverse and inclusive books to ensure all of your pupils’ backgrounds are reflected (try our Diversity packs or Black British History pack).
• Books to refresh and update your library with our Best of 2021 Library Top-up pack.
• A selection of Branching Out packs to widen your pupils’ reading horizons and encourage them to find books by new authors
• Recommended reads packs, available for every year group, are also a brilliant and easy way to ensure you’ve got the best selection of books out there for your pupils of all ages.

You can browse the full range of BooksForTopics packs available through Peters here.

Sell the benefits

What are the benefits to your school and your pupils? Be specific about your aims and the positive outcomes you expect to see as a result of your fundraising campaign. These may include:

• A way to engage reluctant readers with our Graphic Novels pack or Reluctant Readers pack.
• Books to help children move on to secondary school or high school with our Year 6 Transition pack.
• Support pupils’ wellbeing with our All About Me pack and Mental Health Awareness pack.

Talk about the impact

What’s the impact on your pupils of having new books? Reading is a skill we take for granted, yet it’s essential for being able to get on in life. As a child grows up, being able to read well not only enables them to discover new facts but also opens them up to new ideas, stories and opportunities. Lacking vital literacy skills holds you back at every stage of life. As a child they’ll be less likely to succeed at school, as a young adult they’ll be locked out of the job market, and as a parent, they won’t be able to support their child’s learning. Explain how people can make a difference with a donation towards:

• A Dyslexia-Friendly pack to help a wider range of children read for pleasure.
• Books to help children deal with mental health issues, feelings and emotions that can be barriers to learning in our Emotional Literacy Support pack.
• Our Back To School PSHE Picture Books pack to help children navigate mental health, class transitions and coping with change.

Ask for donations

It can feel awkward asking for donations from parents and local businesses, but once a donor believes that what you’re fundraising for matters, giving almost becomes an afterthought. It’s important to have a fundraising target so that donors know what you want to raise and a specific campaign so that they can see where their money is going. Remember, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Give feedback and say thank you

It’s important to give regular feedback to donors, whether that’s to tell them you’re halfway to target or have reached your target. Share photos of what you’ve achieved and done with the funds raised or share quotes from pupils and staff who have benefited from your fundraising campaign. And most importantly, don’t forget to say thank you.

If you’re ready to kick-start your fundraising for books campaign, REGISTER with Support Your School today.

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Browse the full range of BooksForTopics packs available through Peters here. Read more about purchasing packs from our lists here.

Where next?

> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub

> Browse our Topic Booklists

> See our Books of the Month.

>View our Year Group booklists

At BooksForTopics, we guide thousands of schools to find the best books for pupils with our recommended reads and book lists covering a…