Asda invites customers to donate pre-loved children’s books

• Thousands of children’s books to find new homes
• Scheme now rolled out to 388 stores following successful pilot
• Over 20,000 books expected to be redistributed back into communities

Asda today announces it is joining part of a nationwide partnership with literacy charity the Children’s Book Project that will enable their customers across the UK to donate pre-loved children’s books in-store, for onward gifting to families who have fewer books of their own.  This country-wide campaign follows successful pilots earlier in the year in Asda stores across Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and London which saw over 6000 booked donated and redistributed.

The Children’s Book Project is on a mission to tackle book poverty in childhood.  They take donations of surplus new and pre-loved books and gift them via schools, community groups and food banks to children that have very few books of their own. 

From 2^nd September over 388 Asda stores will invite local families to donate any books they’ve grown out of, and to drop them off into a dedicated donation trolley at the front of stores, hosted by the store’s Customer and Community Champion. 

Together the two organisations expect to give over 20,000 children the chance to participate in book gifting festivals hosted by their school or community group, where they will be able to choose and take home, books of their own.

Book poverty^[1] has a measurable impact on children’s social and emotional development, as well as their education outcomes, and the charity’s core mission chimes with Asda’s wider, ongoing initiatives to support low-income families. Through this partnership more children will have the chance to choose books they are excited about, to share stories with their wider family and to lose themselves in a story.

Asda have also recently launched their Cashpot for Schools campaign which is making millions of pounds available to primary schools* through the Asda Rewards loyalty programme, after recent research by Asda revealed nine in 10 primary school teachers admitted their schools were reliant on parents and Parent Teacher Associations for funding. Schools can use the money towards a whole range of items including books and equipment.

Carolyn Francis from Asda’s Community Team said “It’s great to have an accessible book donation point in our store where we can then redistributed them back into our local community. All children should be able to access a book without the cost being a barrier. This is also a great opportunity for families to have a bit of a clear out and donate any books that their children may have grown out of which will then go on to benefit many other children in our area.”

Children’s Book Project Founder and CEO Liberty Venn said: “We are incredibly excited about the opportunity that Asda is giving to their customers nationwide to send their children’s pre-loved books on new adventures.  Like us, Asda want to help tackle book poverty in childhood.  Every book donated will reach a new home and impact another child, raising aspirations and building reading communities.”