School Book Fund
The BBC, through its Conservation and Education Committee, donates funds to schools and educational programs for the purchase of books or other educational materials used to teach K-12 students about birds, nature, and natural science.
The BBC Conservation and Education Committee is pleased to announce an extraordinary run of six Book Fund donations, totaling around $4000, to schools and educational programs from around and beyond Massachusetts. With a longtime Massachusetts birder as our contact, we took advantage of a unique opportunity to provide binoculars for what is probably the only school in Kenya with a birding club, the Beverly School of Kenya Young Birders Club. We also supported a library program in Northampton that offered a live-bird presentation for families in conjunction with the purchase of “birding kits” that library patrons can borrow—a growing trend in libraries across the country to make birding more inclusive and accessible.
Our first preschool donation, for field guides and children’s binoculars, went to the Boston Outdoor Preschool Network. Other recipients include the Pine Hill Elementary School in Sherborn, the Village School in Royalston, and Cambridge Community Education at Mass Audubon in Cambridge.
To donate to the Book Fund, you can designate an amount on the “BBC School Book Fund” line on the back page of the club bulletin when you renew your membership. At any time, you can donate online by clicking “join” at the top of the BBC home page and designating an amount under “optional donation to BBC School Book Fund”. For any inquiries or applications to the Book Fund, please email Dave Williams.
If you know of specific teachers or schools who might be suitable recipients for the fund, please contact John Nelson or Dave Williams.
How To Apply
The BBC sponsors a School Book Fund through which it will donate up to $750 for books, optical equipment, or other educational materials used to support bird and nature study in preK-12 schools or programs anywhere in Massachusetts. To apply for a donation, an educator should send an itemized list of the desired books/materials, with approximate cost, and an explanation–no more than a page–of how the books/materials will be used in a class or program of bird and nature study. If the application is approved, the club will purchase the books/materials and ship them to an address provided by the applicant. The club asks that donation recipients agree to put BBC book plates in the books and, if possible, provide photos at some point so that the BBC can publicize the donation. To apply for a donation or for further information, contact the Book Fund chair Dave Williams at dave.williams6@gmail.com or Conservation and Education Committee chair John Nelson at jnelson@northshore.edu.