A new national survey maps the organizations getting books to children

The National Book Access Association conducted a survey of 42 book access organizations. The results show a field powered by volunteers and partnerships, and eager to measure what its work makes possible. New research suggests the stakes are high.

National Book Access Association · Nov 10, 2026

Each year, organizations that give free books to children reach families through schools, clinics, child care centers and community events across the country. Most of them do it with fewer paid employees than a typical elementary school front office.

That is one of the central findings of the 2026 member survey of the National Book Access Association (NBAA), a national network of nonprofits and programs that put books into the hands of children and families. Forty-two organizations in 21 states responded to the survey, conducted in September and October. The 40 organizations that reported a full year of activity said they collectively distributed more than 7.4 million print books for children and families to keep.

The median organization reported two full-time and two part-time employees. Nine reported no paid staff at all.

"Our members are moving millions of books with teams you could fit around a kitchen table, and with the help of tens of thousands of volunteers," said Emily Ball Cicchini, president of NBAA. "This survey gives us a clearer picture of who is doing this work and what they need. The question in front of all of us is whether we are willing to give these organizations what they need to keep books coming to children year after year, and to measure what those books make possible, together."

A field of very different sizes

The typical respondent distributed about 108,000 books in a year, and 22 of the 40 full-year organizations reported at least 100,000. Volume is concentrated among a handful of large distributors: the five biggest account for roughly half of all books reported. The total likely includes some double counting, because member organizations frequently pass books to one another before those books reach a child.



Financial resources vary even more widely. Annual resources devoted to book access, including donated goods, ranged from about $5,000 to $13.5 million, with a median of $415,000 among the 33 organizations that provided usable estimates. Because operating models differ so sharply, the report cautions against applying a single efficiency benchmark across the field. A volunteer-run program in a suburb and a regional distribution hub with a warehouse in an urban area are better compared with peers in demographically similar areas and programs that operate in similar ways.

Volunteers and partners carry the load

Volunteers make up much of the workforce in the book access field. The median organization reported 300 volunteers a year, and respondents collectively reported nearly 40,000 people donating time.

Organizations also depend heavily on partners. Thirty four of the 42 respondents distribute at least some books through other organizations, and the median respondent works with about 80 distribution partners. Schools, libraries and child-care centers were the most common channels, cited by 36 respondents, followed by community organizations (34), family and public events (28), classroom library collections (23), health care settings (17) and direct mail to children's homes (12).

An early-childhood focus

Nearly every respondent serves young children: 41 serve 3- and 4-year-olds, 40 serve children ages 5 to 8, and 37 serve infants and toddlers. Twenty-six also serve teenagers.

Many organizations pair books with reading activities. Twenty-one offer read-aloud storytimes, 20 host book fairs, 11 arrange author visits and nine run workshops for parents or for parents and children together. Twenty-five said they let children choose their own books.

At the median organization, about 62 percent of the books distributed are new or like new. About 10 percent are in Spanish or are English-Spanish bilingual, although a few organizations concentrate heavily on bilingual books.

Funding comes from many sources. Thirty-nine respondents rely on individual donors, 38 on corporate support and 38 on foundation grants. Thirty-four receive donated books, and 16 receive government grants or contracts.

The measurement gap

While every respondent tracks how many books it gives away, far fewer measure what happens afterward. Nineteen organizations said they track children's attitudes toward reading, 16 track the size of home libraries, 15 track reading habits and six track literacy outcomes. Seventeen said they do not currently measure these impacts.

Respondents also count the people they serve in different ways. Only 12 described their figures as unique individuals; others count service encounters, rely on partner estimates or combine methods. For that reason, the survey does not estimate a total number of children reached.

Members want to close the gap. Impact and outcome measurement was the most frequently cited priority for NBAA support: 35 of 42 respondents, or 83 percent, rated it a high or moderate priority, and 20 rated it high. Networking with peers followed, at 33 respondents.

Some respondents cautioned that a child's reading growth has many influences, and that individual programs should focus on what they directly change, such as book ownership, access, choice and family reading. A shared starting point may already be within reach: 27 respondents said they can or could track where their books go by ZIP code, and nine more said they might be able to.

Why it matters

New research suggests that steady access to books does more than fill shelves. In a five-year randomized trial published in April in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers Geoffrey Borman of Arizona State University and Hyunwoo Yang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that students in high-poverty Milwaukee elementary schools who were offered up to 34 free books to keep scored higher on the state reading test than peers in comparison schools. Students who received every distribution over the five years gained the equivalent of about half to two-thirds of a typical year of learning, at a cost of roughly $2 per book. The authors call book distribution "a promising and easily scalable strategy for improving literacy outcomes in high-poverty schools," while noting that the study spanned the COVID-19 pandemic and should be replicated.

The study's emphasis on consistency echoes the survey's recommendations. Students whose access was uninterrupted saw about twice the gains of those whose access was not, a finding that underscores the value of tracking whether children are served repeatedly over time.

What comes next

The survey report recommends that NBAA develop a small common dataset that distinguishes books given to keep from books loaned, individual children from partner organizations, and purchased books from donated ones, and that records whether children are served repeatedly. It also recommends organizing peer learning by organization size and model, connecting experienced members with those seeking to grow, and surveying the same organizations again to track change over time. Thirty-seven respondents said they would participate in a future survey, and two more said they might.

In open-ended responses, members also asked for greater attention to diversity and representation, more direct communication from the association, collective advocacy and webinars focused on learning rather than vendor promotion.

About the survey: The 2026 NBAA Member Survey was conducted from Sept. 3 to Oct. 12, 2026, and invited both active and prospective member organizations to respond. Forty-two organizations participated. All figures are self-reported. Annual totals exclude one commercial supplier and one organization reporting a partial year. Results describe responding organizations and should not be generalized to the entire book access field.

Study cited: Borman, G. D., & Yang, H. (2026). Cumulative access to print books improves literacy achievement: Evidence from a five-year randomized trial in high-poverty schools. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 123(17), e2521416123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2521416123