How BookStart Works
The BookStart Fund is a Donor Advised Fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne (CF) which accepts donations to be spent on books for children birth through age three in poverty level homes in Allen and Dekalb Counties. Set up in the spring of 2014 by two community volunteers (Ginny Clark and Dana Wichern), the purpose is to increase the number of low-income parents in Allen and Dekalb Counties who regularly read to their very young children. BookStart recognizes the many benefits this activity brings to families, including healthy and loving attachments and reading readiness in the children.
Partnerships
The BookStart program is carried out through a collaborative partnership between the BookStart Fund and ten non-profit agencies in Allen and Dekalb Counties serving families in poverty. The agencies receive books from the BookStart Fund and agree to incorporate developmentally appropriate read-aloud messages into their home visits or other nurturing contacts with low-income parents of children birth through age three. It is an early intervention for children but always in cooperation with and supportive of their parents.
All of these agencies strive to teach best practices to the parents, and all are delighted to be able to add the book gifts and read-aloud message to their client visits. As one agency director said, it is a relief to the staff to have something so positive and pleasant to be able to incorporate into the sometimes stressful visits. Our book selection criteria emphasize humor and fun for both parent and child—we want the parents to enjoy reading the books so much that they make it a daily routine!
Purchasing Books
The administrative work of raising the funds and ordering the books is done by the BookStart Fund managers. Taking the books and read-aloud guidance to the families is incorporated into the activities already included in each existing agency’s services, so there are no additional costs to the agencies. This is an efficient structure—for agencies and funders. Funders can add value to all eight agencies at once by supporting BookStart. The average cost of the books is currently only $2.75 because they are ordered from the publishers at quantity discounts of 50-60% with free shipping. The cost would be higher if each agency had to order its own books, in necessarily smaller quantities, and the selection and ordering of books would take staff time.