Your participation fee includes:

• International freight forwarding and customs clearance from our warehouse in the United States. This includes preparing the shipment and the documents and inventory that are required.



• Direct delivery to your sister school (many of our schools are so remote that they have no way of retrieving shipments from their P.O. Box in Gulu).



• Facilitating your sister school relationship



• Books of Hope instructional & support materials, both online and mailed to you



• Photograph of one of your books at your sister school



• Dozens of photographs and a written update about your sister school after our annual delivery trip



• Books of Hope has contracted with Dorothy Anena Otika of the Latigi Orphan Care Center to help with on-the-ground work during the times when our staff aren't there. As part of that contract, we pay Dorothy a monthly stipend which not only covers her work for us, but also a significant portion of her expenses related to her other projects on behalf of local children who have been orphaned by the war or HIV. In other words, we're supporting the work of a highly respected organization in Gulu and making sure that they can do their work even more effectively.



• Oversight and accountability of how your donations are being used. We have developed extensive and ongoing relationships with almost 20 schools, their staff and administration, and a dozen government officials that serve Acholi children. These relationships make this project possible. Dorothy helps us monitor the status of the donations to your sister schools, to make sure they are being used for their intended purposes. Books of Hope staff also spend a significant portion of each year's delivery trip conducting evaluation and assessment in order to make the project more effective.

Your participation fee does NOT include:

• Cost of purchasing the United States Postal Service "ReadyPost 15 x 12 x 10-inch Mailing Carton". At the moment this is $3.19 per box.



• Domestic shipping to our United States warehouse. This address will be made available to registered schools, and you are welcome to use whichever parcel service gives you the best rate (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc).
  
  Just to give you an estimate, if you are sending a 35 pound box of books and supplies, you could use the USPS Parcel Post rate which is $24.08 per box. If you were only sending books, you could use the USPS Media Mail classification, and this would cost $15.64 for a 35 pound box. These costs will vary with the weight of your box.



• Supplies and costs related to constructing, assembling, printing, and copying (when relevant), etc. your books

As you'll see below, we offer you a discount on international shipping and provide a variety of services, such as feedback, photographs, and updates that you could not guarantee if you were to ship independently.

• The cost for shipping through Books of Hope shown in the table below includes our participation fee, domestic shipping expenses and the cost of the box. Your domestic shipping costs to us would be even lower if you were shipping only books through Media Mail or if your box was lighter than 35 pounds



• The cost for the other parcel services includes $50 as a minimum additional cost you'd pay in postal taxes and to have your books delivered to your school from the P.O. Box in Gulu.

These prices reflect international shipping to Gulu, Uganda for 35-pound 15 x 12 x 10-inch boxes.

	1 Box	2 Boxes	3 Boxes	4 Boxes	5 Boxes
Books of Hope	$152.27	$279.54	$306.81	$384.08	$461.35
USPS - Flat Rate Int'l Priority Mail	$157.90	$265.80	$373.70	$481.60	$589.50
USPS - Airmail M-Bag	$198.75	$347.50	$496.25	$645.00	$793.75
USPS - Int'l Priority Mail	$239.50	$429.00	$618.50	$808.00	$997.50
UPS	$825.00	$1323.74
FedEx Int'l Economy	$661.10	$1272.20
DHL World- wide Express	$746.50	$1443.50

Please bear in mind that shipping independently does NOT guarantee any feedback or photos from your sponsored school or even confirmation of receipt.

The reality is that Uganda is an extremely poor country with very little dependable infrastructure, either for communication or transportation. Uganda also has an immensly corrupt bureaucracy, and, if you were to ship independently, your package could very well "disappear" before reaching its destination.

With all of that in mind, we hope you'll agree that Books of Hope is a great deal for you!

To learn more about how we calculated these expenses, visit our cost comparison page.

While fundraising sounds like an extra task to complete, it actually can become an important part of the service-learning experience. Three reasons to fundraise (even if your principal is willing to pay the fee):

1. It extends the act of service to more than making books



2. It teaches students about the challenges of international relief work. The truth is that it takes money and resources to help people half-way around the world. Raising funds is an important aspect of service.



3. It asks students to raise money for someone else rather than for something they want. Most students are unaccustomed to giving away money; they’re used to being recipients. This gives them a chance to give something away that they personally value.

Consider seeking out sponsor organizations or individuals to help defray the expenses. Another option is to ask for a small contribution from each family to cover the cost of shipping their child's book. Other schools have held book festivals to show off their students' books and raise money. Sponsors who contribute a $1 can sign the inside cover of the book.