Who We Are
The Binc Foundation grew out of a wish of bookstore employees to establish a fund to help colleagues who experience an unexpected financial crisis. Binc is dedicated to assisting bookstore employees across the United States in their greatest time of need. Since 2012, Binc has provided financial assistance to 260 booksellers and their families, providing more than $545,794 in direct assistance. The higher education scholarship program has provided 266 scholarships to bookstore employees and their dependents for a total of $815,000. Binc’s professional development scholarship program has given 84 booksellers the opportunity to attend American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute, Children’s Institute, and regional independent bookselling conferences to gain the knowledge and tools to help strengthen their businesses.
Who We Help
The Binc Foundation provides financial assistance to brick-and-mortar bookstore employees, working full-time or part-time, who demonstrate a personal financial need arising from severe hardship and/or emergency circumstances. The foundation typically assists with needs arising from these qualifying life-event categories:
- Disaster • Domestic violence • Funeral expenses • Homelessness prevention • Loss of household income, due to: • Death in the household • Disability • Divorce or separation • Job loss of spouse or partner • Emergency child or elder care • Serious medical expenses • Utility shut-off prevention
Binc’s Mission
To strengthen the bookselling community through charitable programs that support employees and their families.
Binc’s History
For 20 years, the foundation has helped thousands of booksellers across the country overcome personal financial hardships. It began in 1996 when employees and executives of Borders Group, Inc., had a vision to start a nonprofit foundation with the purpose of helping bookstore employees in need. Their desire was to have an ongoing method for booksellers to help each other. From its beginning, as the Borders Group Foundation, funding was provided by company executives, individual employee payroll contributions, and donations from publishers and vendors. In 2011, following the liquidation of Borders, the organization was renamed the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation. At this time, the scope of the foundation was expanded to assist any employee of a brick-and-mortar bookstore within the United States. The Binc Foundation provides emergency financial assistance to booksellers in times of natural disaster, as in the cases of Hurricane Sandy in 2012; the 2013 flooding in Colorado; and the 2017 hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and mudslides. The majority of assistance requests, however, are of a much more individual nature. Whether the need arises from a serious medical expense, domestic violence incident, threat of eviction, essential utility shut-off, or the unexpected loss of household income, Binc works with individual booksellers to help them through emergency situations and return their households to a state of financial equilibrium. Through the years, the foundation has served as a safety net for booksellers facing unexpected personal financial hardships. From the first assistance grant of $323 given to a single mother struggling to pay her bills, the level of assistance has steadily grown, with the average grant today exceeding $2,000. Since inception, more than 7,300 booksellers have been assisted with $6.5 million in short-term financial support. Today, the Binc Foundation is a well-respected charitable organization, enjoying wide support across the book industry. The foundation has earned a silver seal from GuideStar and the top rated designation from Great Nonprofits. Binc is proud to partner with the American Booksellers Association, the country’s regional independent bookselling associations, publishers, distributors, bookstores, booksellers, and bookstore customers to ensure a relevant, strong, and sustainable foundation.
