ABA and Binc Partner to Offer Emergency Financial Assistance to Indie Booksellers

This week, the American Booksellers Association and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc Foundation) announced that they have entered into an agreement to offer a Binc Foundation financial assistance program for employees of independent bookstores who are experiencing an emergency financial hardship. The program will run from October 2012 through September 2013.

“ABA is very pleased to be partnering with the Book Industry Charitable Foundation,” said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. “Binc’s mission of providing short-term emergency financial support to booksellers strengthens the entire bookselling community, and we look forward to working with them to provide programs that help ensure financial assistance is available to booksellers and their families in their time of need.”

“We look forward to working with ABA and its member stores,” said Pam French, executive director of the Binc Foundation. “The Binc Foundation provides an important safety net when a bookstore employee experiences a financial emergency. We help out by issuing tax-free grants in situations ranging from natural disasters to domestic violence to loss of household income to bills for serious medical conditions. Our goal is to stabilize the household finances so that an emergency situation does not overwhelm the household and spiral into a more extreme financial need. It is our vision to be an organization dedicated to book people helping book people.”

The Binc Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that began in 1996 as the Borders Foundation, with the purpose of helping Borders employees in need. Following the bankruptcy of Borders in 2011, the foundation expanded its mission and changed its name in recognition of its new focus as an industry-wide entity.

The Binc Foundation’s core program provides assistance to bookstore employees who have a demonstrated financial need arising from severe hardship and/or emergency circumstances. Since its inception, the organization has provided more than $5 million in charitable assistance. The Foundation also sponsors an annual scholarship program for booksellers and their dependents. Binc is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and can be found online at bincfoundation.org.

Support for the Foundation’s programs and services comes primarily from booksellers and publishers.