If you have been holding onto your textbooks from law school, there are other people that could benefit from them. Although you could just leave the legal books in the library at school with a "free" sign on them, there are organizations that distribute used legal books to students and other people that can put them to good use. You can even claim the legal book donation on your taxes if you are donating to an organization that is listed with the IRS as a tax-exempt organization.
Instructions
1. Separate your legal books into a stack of paperbacks and a stack of hardbacks. Do this because not all places take hardbacks, and if you are going to have to ship the legal books, the paperbacks will be the cheaper option because they will weigh less.
2. Identify tax-exempt organizations for your donation if you want to claim your donation on your taxes. The IRS online version of Publication 78 allows you to search for eligible charities by name, state and city, but it will not tell you if they accept legal books. You can contact the charity by phone or online to see if they accept legal books.
3. Contact local prisons in your area to see if they accept legal book donations. Typically, prisons only accept paperback books for security reasons. Not all prisons accept legal books. There might even be an organization in your area, such as the Pittsburgh Books to Prisoners Program, that accepts legal books and distributes them to area prisons.
4. Donate through Books to Africa or the International Law Book Facility if you want your legal books to benefit people in Africa and other countries. Each organization has a book-list guide on its website that tells you which legal books it accepts and are in need of. If you use one of these programs, you will need to mail in your book donation. Keep in mind if you are mailing to an address in the United States you qualify for the cheaper Media Mail rate, which is reserved for packages of books and other media.
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