As many of you know, we have been working hard to raise $10K to keep the book-sharing momentum going in 2024! We’ve had some great success (thanks to nearly 70!!! of you who’ve donated through our PayPal fundraising campaign – and offline through outright gifts), but we still have a ways to go. That distance is getting shorter by the day – – – in part because we have received a generous one-month sponsorship ($750) from our credit union, Vantage West! They have stepped up to sponsor our February 2024 book-hiding adventure!

As a small start-up nonprofit, when it was time for us to select a bank, we knew we wanted to keep things local. After doing some research, Vantage West stood out to us because they do so much good work in the community, and we felt like our values of kindness and generosity would be well-supported by them. And that has proven to be more true than we could have imagined.

Vantage West’s mission related to community engagement is:

“To better support our communities and help Arizonans access the opportunities they need to thrive, we focus our giving in the areas of Affordable Quality Housing, Economic Opportunity and Financial Inclusion, Educational Opportunity, and Social Justice.”

How does Tome Gnome fit into this? We believe that books and stories are one of the best representations of our shared humanity – stories have a way of connecting us to each other across our differences and building empathy. We ardently stand against book bans and censorship and actively promote books by (and about) people from communities whose voices have traditionally been marginalized. In this way, our work is rooted in both creating educational opportunities for folks who find our books – and emphasizing social justice through our book selections. Through our bookish scavenger hunts, we hope we’re bringing a little more joy (and perhaps more understanding and empathy!) to our community. Honestly, who doesn’t need more bookish magic in their lives?

As many of you know, we have been working hard to raise $10K to keep the book-sharing going. As we get closer to meeting our goal, we hope you’ll consider making a donation. Every dollar counts! If you’ve been on the fence and haven’t yet donated, please consider doing so. Here’s where things currently stand:

And don’t forget: anyone who gives $100 or more to our fundraiser will be entered to win some really lovely bookish gifts from local businesses and partners. In fact, we’ll next be drawing winners for two AMAZING sets of poetry-related goodies donated by the Poetry Center (each of which includes a gift certificate to Bookmans) over the coming week or two – stay tuned for more info. So anyone who makes a $100+ gift will be entered to win! We also have two more items to share (two sets of signed books from TJ Klune’s personal collection!) – those winners will be selected once we’ve met our fundraising goal!

DONATE NOW 

Or, if you cannot donate now, we hope you’ll continue to share this fundraiser with others in our community who care about spreading joy through books and reading. Being a connector and amplifier is also incredibly helpful!!! Our bookish community is so beautiful and supportive – we continue to be in awe of all of you ❤

You all are the best. Thank you.