Our vision is to leverage the special power of magazines to increase literacy to improve the lives of children and families who have limited access to reading materials. With more than 7,000 titles in the United States alone, across over 60 categories, print magazines are the most powerful literacy engines on Earth. Consumers, publishers and retail newsstands provide new and recycled, good quality magazines, or donate funds, so we are able to offer the magazines at no cost to qualified organizations.
We partner with organizations such as food banks and pantries; shelters for people experiencing homelessness, domestic abuse or human trafficking; schools; job training, youth mentoring and foster children programs; veteran service groups; and rehabilitation programs for inmates to get the magazines into the hands of readers.
We work with these partners to understand the readers they serve and connect them with magazines that match their interests, ages, languages and learning needs.
How does this work?
Programs that provide our magazines to readers can contact us directly with specific requests. Our inventory varies across a mix of good quality magazines that are either unread or gently read and donated to us by consumers, businesses and publishers. Please note that we do not distribute directly to individuals.
We are transitioning from our current location and have limited space for incoming magazines, so our magazine distribution is focused on programs we can reach through volunteer-supported regional deliveries in and near Ohio and Wisconsin. We work continuously to fulfill those needs of our Literacy Newsstand locations or programs with standing or regular orders.
At this time, we are not shipping or delivering individual boxes or pallets to programs outside these service areas.
Programs within our current delivery areas are encouraged to tell us about their work, the readers they serve and the kinds of materials they need. We will work to identify appropriate magazines and determine how your program may fit within our available local distribution routes.
When ordering, select the quantity needed. The magazines that are available for distribution at the time you place your order may not match the product images or titles displayed, but we will do our best to meet your literacy needs.
We also encourage inquiries from programs outside our current service areas. Although we may not be able to provide magazines immediately, your information will help us understand unmet needs and plan for future regional and national distribution capacity.
When will I receive my order?
We will do our best to get your order to you as soon as possible. The magazines that are available for distribution at the time you place your order may not match the product images or titles displayed, but we will do our best to meet your literacy needs. Our inventory varies across a mix of good quality magazines that are either unread or gently read given by businesses, and publishers.
For our Literacy Newsstand locations or programs with standing or regular orders, we work continuously to fulfill those needs.
How do we receive the reading materials ordered?
Placing an order creates a wishlist from products that we currently have available in our inventory. The reading materials that you place in your shopping cart and order will be assembled and earmarked for your organization. Our distribution to programs is dependent upon locations our volunteers can reach.
Please note that we do not distribute directly to individuals.
What does “Available on Backorder” mean?
Literacy agencies use our Literacy Market to create an order, based on literacy needs and reader counts. The order serves as a wishlist. We will utilize this information to assemble a bundle of reading materials to match the order. “Available on Backorder” indicates that we do not currently have matching reading materials in stock for that category in our inventory. However, we are always getting new materials and will use your order to focus our attention on receiving matching issues.
Can we receive a particular magazine title?
We will do our best to provide specific titles based on the reading materials we have available at the time of distribution. If your specific title is unavailable, we will do our best to meet your literacy needs.
Contact us if you have any questions.
Literacy Newsstands
We can assist you in finding ways to create literacy newsstands that best fit your space and the clients served by your organization! Take a look at these examples from organizations we serve; you can consider using free-standing shelving units, wall-mounted shelves or even coffee tables or tabletop displays.
