RIF • Founded 1966 • NEW Books Through Partner Distributions • Used Books Need a Different Route
Reading Is Fundamental — Want to Donate Books?
Quick honest answer: RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) is the oldest US children's-literacy nonprofit. Founded 1966. Its defining model is the in-person distribution where every participating kid chooses a brand-NEW book to take home and keep. Books are sourced through publisher partnerships, not from public used-book donations. If you have used kids' books in the Albuquerque metro, NMLP picks them up free and routes them to APS Title I schools, Little Free Libraries, and family shelters.
Why Reading Is Fundamental doesn't take used books
Reading Is Fundamental is the oldest US children's-literacy nonprofit. Margaret McNamara — a former teacher and the wife of then–Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara — founded the organization in 1966 after her tutoring work made plain that many of the kids she worked with had never owned a book at home. The original RIF distribution, run at one Washington-area school, gave each child the chance to choose a brand-new book to keep. That moment — choice plus ownership — turned out to scale. Within a few years RIF was running distributions nationally. By the 1970s the federal government was co-funding the program through what became the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program (a discretionary line item in the Department of Education budget that has expanded and contracted across administrations).
The reason the model uses new books rather than used is built into the mission. Research on children's reading outcomes consistently finds that book ownership — having books that belong to the child personally, that they chose, that they take home — predicts reading achievement independently of access to books at school or library. A used book pulled from a donation bin doesn't carry the same signal as a new book the child picked off a display table designed for them. So RIF's pipeline is built around acquiring new inventory at deeply discounted publisher prices and putting it on those display tables.
The supply side runs on publisher partnerships, corporate-sponsored distributions, federal grants when appropriated, and direct donations earmarked for new-book purchases. There's no warehouse channel for used-book intake from the public, and there's no role for used books in the distribution model itself.
That's not a knock on used books. It's the difference between two distinct supply chains, both legitimate, both serving kids.
Three ways to actually engage with RIF in Albuquerque
1. If you're a school or program leader: apply for partnership
RIF distributions happen at partner organizations. Schools, libraries, after-school programs, summer programs, and family-literacy programs can apply to host distributions. The application typically requires program data on the children served and a commitment to running the distribution per RIF's model (kids choose, kids keep, parents are involved where possible). Many APS Title I schools would be strong fits if they applied. Visit rif.org for current application channels and any active matching-fund programs that could subsidize a first distribution.
2. Donate cash to fund new-book distributions
Direct donations at rif.org fund new-book purchases at publisher-leveraged rates. RIF runs annual and ongoing campaigns, and many corporate partners sponsor regional distributions. If you have a personal connection to a specific Albuquerque program, you can sometimes route the support to a designated distribution. Cash gifts to RIF are 501(c)(3) tax-deductible.
3. Use the free digital literacy resources
Modern RIF has expanded beyond physical distributions. The Literacy Central platform offers thousands of free skill sheets, lesson plans, and digital resources organized by book and topic. Skybrary (a separate digital service RIF acquired) provides a curated library of digital and animated children's books. Read Aloud videos give parents and educators ready-made shared-reading material. If you're an educator or parent in Albuquerque looking to extend a kid's reading life beyond what physical books alone can do, these free RIF resources are easy on-ramps.
Where used children's books in Albuquerque actually go
If you came here because you have a closet, a garage, or an estate full of used children's books and you don't want them landfilled, you have real options in the metro.
- NMLP free pickup. Any quantity, any condition, in-home pickup, no fee. Children's books in good condition route to APS Title I schools that have requested specific grade-level material, to the metro's network of Little Free Libraries on our active restocking route, to family shelters with children's programs, and to organizations serving newly-arrived refugee families. Copies that can't be placed in good conscience (badly water-damaged, mold-spotted, missing pages, written in past readability) go to paper recycling rather than getting passed along. Call or text 702-496-4214.
- Friends of the Albuquerque Public Library. 501(c)(3) at 501 Copper Ave NW, lower-level Main Library, Mon–Sat 10:30 AM–2:00 PM. Tax-deductible. They resell donated books to fund library programs and accept children's books in current readable condition.
- Individual APS school librarians. If you have a personal connection at a specific Albuquerque Public Schools campus and your books are well-matched to grade level, calling the school librarian directly works. Different schools have different shortages.
- Little Free Library stewards. If you know a specific Little Free Library box that's hungry for kids' books, dropping a stack right into it works.
Used children's books are valuable. RIF isn't the right destination for them — the new-book pipeline serves a specific evidence-based purpose — but they don't deserve the landfill either. NMLP's free pickup exists because the gap between "donor with books" and "child who'd read them" was being filled by trash trucks more often than by hand-offs. We close that gap.
Reading Is Fundamental vs. NMLP at a glance
| Reading Is Fundamental | NMLP | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1966 by Margaret McNamara | 2020s, Josh Eldred |
| Books type | Brand new, kids choose to keep | Used, any condition |
| Delivery | In-person distributions at partner programs | Hand-sorted routing to APS Title I, LFLs, family shelters |
| Funding | Cash + publisher partnerships + corporate + federal grants when funded | For-profit resale of donated books funds the operation |
| Takes used-book donations from public? | No (new-book distribution model) | Yes, any condition, any quantity |
| Who can receive books | Kids at RIF partner programs (schools/libraries/family-literacy) | APS Title I schools, Little Free Libraries, family shelters, refugee resettlement |
| Tax-deductible? | Yes (501(c)(3)) | No (for-profit) |
| Pickup service? | N/A | Free, anywhere in the ABQ metro |
| Best for | Cash donors who want to fund kid-choice new-book distributions + program leaders applying for partnership | Anyone with used children's books they don't want landfilled |
Disclosure: I'm Josh Eldred, the operator of NMLP. This page exists because Albuquerque donors searching for "donate books to Reading Is Fundamental" are searching for a route that doesn't exist as described. I'm telling them the honest answer and pointing to where their used books can actually go.
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The Kids' Books Still Need a Home
RIF's whole point is the moment a kid chooses a brand-NEW book to call their own — your used closet stock can't deliver that experience. The books in your closet can still go where they're needed: APS Title I schools, Little Free Libraries, family shelters — through NMLP free pickup. One call.
Call or Text 702-496-4214Josh Eldred — NMLP — Free children's book pickup across the Albuquerque metro.