Choose Your Own Fundraiser Glossary

Blind Date with a Book 

Using sale books, hurts, donated books, or books from your discount display, wrap books nicely with the usual brief description or 3 words to describe the book. Customers can select a book for a donation of $5. Display a sign explaining what the donations are funding. 

Book Club Evening/Readers' Night Out

Create a special party for one (or all) of your store's book clubs, with wine, light snacks, and a sneak peek at forthcoming titles. Or throw a party and put out a broad invitation for all area book clubs. While raising funds for us, you can gather contact info and make connections with clubs you might not even know. Use ARCs or Hurts as door prizes. Set the ticket price to cover your costs plus a donation, and make sure you tell your guests about the work of PBS and Binc - readers love Industry/Behind The Scenes knowledge!

Bookseller Topic Videos

Work with your staff to create short videos (10 to 20 minutes) on topics of interest to your customers. Offer them for sale or donation on your website. These can be funny or serious!

Topics might include:

• Book talks

• Genre best-of Lists

• How to choose the right children’s books

• What makes a great biography/mystery

• New books, new authors

• Backstage at the bookstore (receiving, shelving, how you discover new books)

Boozy Book Fair

There's a reason these are so popular - books, friends, alcohol, nostalgia! In the store or in a partner business bar or brewery, host your Boozy Book Fair with a percentage going to the fundraiser. Put up a tip jar and poster too! Give away ARCs as door prizes.

Fundraising Fair

Determine a specific date or range of dates and donate a percentage of sales to this PBS/Binc fundraiser. We'll provide signs and text to explain the project to staff and customers.

Gift Wrap Tip Jar

During a busy gift season, add a tip jar for your gift wrapping services and display our poster about how PBS and Binc support booksellers and bookstores.

Owner's Choice Event

What kind of event works best for your store? Organize your favorite event, take it up a level with snacks, drinks, or prizes, and give a percentage of ticket sales or register take to PBS and Binc!

Opt-Out/Opt-In

Want to help but just don't have the energy to plan? We're happy to accept a one-time, tax-deductable donation of $100, $250, or $500!

Parents Morning Out

For a fee, offer an early morning session once a week over four weeks. Choose activities focused on children of different ages:

Toddlers - offer a brief storytime, perhaps with a special guest reader or animal such as police officer and dog or local animal rescue

Ages 5-7 - offer a fun activity such as Lego time, doll tea party, easy seasonal crafts

Ages 7+ - offer table games, craft activity, book talk about favorite characters, or a chance for kids to wrap and swap books

Have coffee on hand for the parents, and perhaps time for them to talk with a staff member knowledgeable about children's books.

Personal Shopper

Support excellent bookseller professional development with your bookseller's excellent skills! Have customers pay for Personal Shopper timeslots, either in person, online, or on the phone. Help them find new reads and the perfect gifts, and split the proceeds with us.

Round-Up at the Register

Ask customers if they'd like to round up to the nearest dollar, $5, or $10 to support education for booksellers. As the money adds up over weeks or a month, it can become a substantial donation. Include a promo about Binc/PBS on the bottom of your store receipts. (We'll help with directions for different POS systems!)

Signed Books Drawing

Gather signed editions from your most famous friend-of-the-store authors and sell tickets to win these very special copies.

Silent Reading Party

A great silent reading party is the perfect event for introverts! Provide comfy places to read with chairs, floor pillows, and throws. Have quiet background music. Provide hot tea, cocoa, or wine, plus quiet snacks like baked goods or finger sandwiches. Perhaps a signature mocktail? Hold one on a winter afternoon, spring evening, or summer night. Charge at least double the cost of snacks and donate the profit to this fundraiser. Remind your happy readers how important it is for booksellers to have great education and solid support if disaster strikes!

Staff Reading Challenge

Get your customers excited about books your staffers are reading! Ask them to sponsor a staff member, with a donation for each book finished. Include a pre-order or purchase link with staff review for each book listed to drive sales to you while supporting us!

Stuffie Sleep Over

Stuffie Sleep Overs are bookseller favorites because they are easy and fun - ask your youngest customers to bring their favorite stuffie to the store for an overnight party, then have fun posing them together and taking photos for the kids and for social media feeds. Try: story time, snack time, hide and seek, telling ghost stories, makeovers with new ribbons, or helping with opening/closing routines. Charge a ticket price for the fundraiser, and/or create a special package that includes a book of the stuffie's choice.

Swag Sale

For a designated period of time, donate a percentage of all store swag sales to PBS/Binc.