Chad/Darfur

As you may have noticed, the Book Wish website looks very different today! We've redesigned the site to help promote our biggest project ever, our new book What You Wish For: A Book For Darfur, and to more effectively communicate about our work. Most of the content from our old site has been moved over, but a few items are still making the jump, so don't hesitate to contact us if you hit a broken link. We also have a new logo designed to reproduce better in the book and elsewhere in print.

"Changing the World" is the cover story of the July 2009 issue of Costco Connection. We are honored to be featured in the story alongside Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea!

By sharing our mission with millions of readers, Costco is giving us a huge opportunity to help Darfur refugees through reading. If only a tiny fraction of the Connection readers donate even $5, we can build a 5,000-book library to serve tens of thousands in one of the refugee camps in eastern Chad. It's a thrilling thought.

Book Wish Foundation is committed to providing transparency in our operations. We allow donations to be earmarked with high specificity, so donors know exactly what their money will be used for, and we make our financial reporting easily accessible. Therefore, all our Form 990 financial reports to the IRS will be posted on this site.

Our first such report, covering our Fiscal Year 2007 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008), the first fiscal year of our existence, can be downloaded here.

We just received our "letter of determination" from the IRS stating that Book Wish Foundation (EIN: 26-1285319) is exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Book Wish Foundation are deductible under section 170 of the Code. The effective date of exemption is October 15, 2007, our date of incorporation, meaning that all donations previously made to us are retroactively tax-deductible.

Do you want to help the world’s neediest read? If so, you might be a candidate for the Board of Directors of the Book Wish Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Reston, Virginia, USA, with a mission to provide reading relief for people in crisis. Book Wish is expanding its Board to meet increasing requests for its help in troubled places around the world.

We just learned from the IRS that our application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status has been assigned to an agent for review. This great news takes us one step closer to receiving federal tax-exempt status.

Our application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status (Form 1023) has been sent to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). If approved, U.S. taxpayers' donations to us will be tax-deductible, and we will be able to apply for grants and other forms of support only available to tax-exempt organizations. Please note that, if you have already made a donation to us, or make one before we receive 501(c)(3) status, your donation will likely be considered tax-exempt, retroactively, if our application is approved.

[Adopted 1/2/2008 by unanimous vote of the Board of Directors]

Article I: Purpose
The purpose of the conflict of interest policy is to protect the interest of the Book Wish Foundation (the “Organization”) when it is contemplating entering into a transaction or arrangement that might benefit the private interest of an officer or director of the Organization or of other interested persons or might result in a possible excess benefit transaction.

[Adopted 1/2/2008 by unanimous vote of the Board of Directors]

Article I: Name
The name of this corporation is Book Wish Foundation. Book Wish Foundation is a Virginia Nonstock Corporation.

Article II: Board of Directors

1. The Board of Directors shall serve without pay.

The undersigned, citizens of the United States, pursuant to Chapter 10 of Title 13.1 of the Code of Virginia, state as follows:

1. The name of the corporation is Book Wish Foundation.