Books for America

Books, Movies, CDs, Audiobooks, Collectibles

Donations of books, movies, music CDs and other items are 100% tax deductible!

Please ensure all items are in excellent, almost AS NEW condition.  
During an in-store donation or a home pick-up, we will take a quick survey of the books. We can only accept items we know we can use - we will not take books that are in poor condition or out-of-date.  It costs us a lot of time and money to dispose of unusable books, so please understand that we cannot accept these.

We need:
--Children's books - both hardcover and softcover

--Hardcover and softcover books of all types, except we are very picky about ADULT HARDCOVER FICTION (it is difficult to donate hardcover fiction novels to shelters, prisons, etc.). Please give us a call if you have questions about your hardbacks

--Softcover fiction, art, cookbooks, history, foreign language, psychology, sports, coffee-table books, music, etc.

--Encyclopedia Britannica sets from the year 2000 to the present

--Movies - DVD and classic VHS (e.g. we generally cannot use 1990s blockbusters on VHS)

--CDs - music, instructional, videogames, etc.

--Audiobooks on CD or cassette

--Collectible items such as antique or autographed books, vintage magazines, comic books, memorabilia, figurines, jewelry, watches, etc. are very useful - we will auction them and use the proceeds to fund our programs.  You will receive a tax-deduction for the full auction value of the item!  

We do not need...

--Hardcover fiction without a dust jacket, hardcover fiction with a torn dust jacket

--Textbooks pubished before 2008. This includes high school and collegiate textbooks

--Travel guides published before 2007

--Romance novels in paper or hardback

--Ex-library books 

--Book Sale "Leftovers"

--Yellowed or damaged books. Please also keep an eye out for cracked spines, loose pages, and "foxing," which looks like little yellow or brown spots across the top edge of the book's pages. Also, books that have been stored for a long time in a basement or attic could possibly have book mold across the top edges of the book's pages. Again, just something to be aware of

--Magazines

--Outdated books - including business/management/real estate books published before 2005; politics or current events published before 2007; any edition of "What Color Is Your Parachute" besides the 2010 edition; think-tank/policy speciality books unless from 2010; items that look dated or just plain old (unless antique) 

--Lastly, please be aware that we may not be able to use books that inlcude large amounts of highlighting or underlining

We have a large quantity (50 items or more) pick-up service for Arlington, VA; Alexandria, VA; Washington, DC, and Bethesda/Chevy Chase, MD.  For larger quantities we will go even further. 
Please email info@booksforamerica.org or call 202.835.2665 with questions.