Coming to a classroom near you!

BookSpring is yet another excellent Piryx client that emphasizes the importance of reading for school-aged children. Based out of Austin, TX, this nonprofit works in conjunction with Reading is Fundamental to help put books into the hands of every child.

Every year, BookSpring puts on its Read-A-Thon where school children solicit pledges from family and friends to sponsor their reading. Donors pledge a certain amount per page (say $0.25) and the students then read as much as they can over a month. The donors then donate the total amount (pages read X pledge amount). Donations go to support reading programs in the student's school.

In the past, all pledges were recorded, and subsequently collected, on and in paper envelopes (not unlike our old popcorn selling from Boy Scouts). Yup, that's right. Much like the man behind this campaign, Mr. Will Ikard, I was a boy scout too - In fact, we were Eagle Scouts baby! Ok...enough of that. Back to the books. At the time, Only checks or cash were accepted. BUT This year, BookSpring has established a Piryx page for Read-A-Thon.

With the help of Piryx developers, BookSpring built custom fields (like Student's School, Grade, etc.) to better track donations and make sure the right books go to the right schools. This Piryx page is running parallel to BookSpring's traditional one-time and monthly recurring fundraising campaigns. Read-a-Thon begins accepting donations this week, so please visit the BookSpring site to find out how you can contribute!

Why participate?

For the children - For every year a child is read to, the average lifetime earnings increase by $50,000.

For the families - While in middle income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1, in low income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 age appropriate book for every 300 children.

For the community - The U.S Department of Education expects the literacy gap in America will produce a shortage of 12 million qualified workers in the next decade.

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