Binc’s Annual Campaign to Sustain Sets New Goal

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The Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation’s third annual Campaign to Sustain, which launched on Monday, May 1, aims to add another 80 monthly sustaining donors by Monday, June 5.

Campaign to Sustain logoTo date, more than 170 contributors have become monthly sustaining donors, who have committed to giving a minimum gift of $20 per month. As the number of grant applications and the financial needs of booksellers keep increasing, becoming a sustaining donor helps ensure that the foundation will continue to be able to provide emergency financial assistance to help booksellers overcome such challenges as serious medical expenses, domestic violence, homelessness, and funeral expenses.

“Our goal is to expand our funding so we will be able to assist an additional bookseller a month, every month of the year,” said Binc Executive Director Pam French. “If 80 new sustaining donors join with a contribution of $20 a month, we can strengthen our bookseller safety net immensely. When the literary community comes together, the combined contributions can make a huge difference.”

In 2016, authors Ann Patchett and James Patterson signed on as the organization’s first co-ambassadors and Binc saw a nearly 50 percent increase in donations over 2015. These donations allowed the foundation to aid 36 booksellers and their families with more than $81,000 in financial assistance.

Patchett will offer her own incentive for this year’s Campaign to Sustain: the first 80 contributors who join as a sustaining donor will receive an autographed hardcover copy of Commonwealth, her latest novel. Also this year, longtime Binc sustaining corporate donor Basil Software will make a one-time $10 matching contribution for each Basil customer who becomes a sustaining donor.

To make a donation to the Campaign to Sustain, visit the Binc donation page.