Free children’s book monthly through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library- Valid in US/Canada/UK

Quote from andypete : Not available in my area. The website says it is only available in areas were there are affiliate volunteers who market the program to get it started. When I started to fill out the form and it said that it was not available in my area, it then prompted me to sign up as an affiliate for the Imagination Library. It said that after doing so, I would immediately be sent a starter packet and be assigned a regional director who would guide me through the steps of bringing the program to my area. It sounds like it would work, but it's more effort than I'm interested in committing at this time. I have a 3 year-old and figured a free book or two for her would be cool, but I am not prepared to start a book/reading program for my whole community. Especially when, from my understanding, the books are simply mailed out from the warehouse location.. I wonder what the continued benefit of having local affiliates for the program would be?

Because as the affiliate you continue to run the show! Basically from what I've gathered from a quick viewing of the starter package, when sign up to be an affiliate of the project in your city/county it's up to you to get the ball rolling! You can elect to become what they call the "local champion" of this project in your area, or you can get a group of parents/teachers etc to run it with you/for you on an ongoing basis!

You must align yourself with a cooperating local non-profit 501(c) 3 organization, fill out some basic legalese paperwork (which they provide in the starter kit they send out) post office documentation etc! Next all you have to do is pull the census info for your zip & make 5 year projections on cost etc! (about $2 per child including book & postage) Then it's up to you to roll it out in your community, ie do the all the legwork such as educating your city about the project in order to raise funding! Hit up all the local groups like your rich community leaders, business owners, civic orgs, chamber of commerce, churches, schools, PTA, federal charities, United Way etc Whoever might be willing to sponsor your efforts based on a cost of about $25 per child per year!

Then once you're sure you have the money & of course the time (if you're in a small town & can run point all on your own) to commit for at least the first year, you're good to go! There are general entry/information brochures which run about $400 per 1,000 which you must order from them to hand out! Then you organize a "roll-out" event with which to launch the whole project, inviting as many teachers, parents, librarians, local children etc They recommend you do this at a community event, library, fair or whatever goes on in your community that brings everyone out together in one central area! Have somebody hi-profile host a reading for the kids, run a ppt (which they provide) explaining what the imagination library foundation is/offers etc!

Then well it's up to you to enter the participants info into their website & to pay the monthly invoice & to make sure the non-deliverables get returned to them! That's basically it! I mean of course you'll want to keep sigining kids up on an ongoing basis (till you reach 100% participation levels), maybe have a sign up booth a couple times a year! Keep your receipts paperwork organized & handed off (for taxes) to that non-profit 501(c) 3 that agreed to "collaborate" with you in the beginning! And that's it! LOL

SERIOUSLY though after you've chosen to spearhead this little project for your city, it seems like this is something you could definitely hand off completely to another organization (or do-gooder busy body type) in your community to keep it going! I was looking at the comp data, they had for a city near me, Branson, MO and really for the 1st couple of years this is something one person could easily afford to fund on their own! It took them a whole year to get to 20% participation levels on a set of 350 eligible children! The monthly invoice was on average $75 then $150 the 2nd year etc going up 20% each year till about 100% by the 5th year ($700 a month or $7,400 a year) finally at a level in which you, indeed, would want "outside" money coming in to help fund this!

For the first couple years it seems like it wouldn't be cost very much at all unless of course, your city was hyper-interested & suddenly had 100% participation the first year! Of course Branson, MO is bigger than the little town I'm in & we probably have only 250 eligible kids under 5! But if I had the time & inclination I might consider it! If I wasn't from CA & not a "local" & well this town is run by pin-heads, corrupt politicians & police so I doubt I'd want to get "seriously" involved in my "community" LOL I'm only back here because my significant other's mom had terminal cancer & came back to help care for her & now after her passing, sadly, close out the estate & settle her affairs....

What a great program though! It's not solely designated for "needy" or disadvantaged children therefore stigma-free! There are no income limits or eligibility requirements other than, A. you are a parent/or guardian & B. you have a child under 5 years of age! It's all about getting books into the hands of parents (of all income brackets), in order to get them in front of your child's eyeballs as you, hopefully, so armed (with a growing library of books about 59 total by the time they enter Kindergarten) would start reading to them at birth, to give them all the necessary enrichments, stimulation, developmentally age-appropriate material to foster an eventual lifelong love of reading & learning! Plus all that one-on-one bonding time between a parent & child that goes along with reading to them nightly is the stuff of cherished childhood memories....

My mother read to me as far back as I can remember! She used to pull this devious trick sometimes near the ending & STOP reading, saving the end for the next day... How she loved to then tease & taunt me with, "well if you learn to read you won't need me anymore & could finish it all by yourself!" This was a revelation for me! One that worked as I've seen video & heard tapes she made & there I am, barely 3 & reading outloud to whoever would listen! See jane run & the train that could etc!