Worldreader Wants to Send 1 Million E-books to Africa With Your Help

Founded in 2010 by David Risher and Colin McElwee, Worldreader is a non-profit that aims to help improve the lives of people in developing nations by providing them with digital books. It all started when Risher, a book lover and former Amazon executive, volunteered at an orphanage in Ecuador and saw how the kids had lost interest in the books inside a padlocked library (the key to which had been lost).

“I thought that this was sad and in a weird way exciting,” he said.

To date, Worldreader has delivered 100,000 e-books to 1,000 students in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda via e-readers. Moreover, the organization has launched an app for Africa's popular $50 feature phones, so anyone with a cellphone can access Worldreader's extensive selection of local and international books.

Last week, Worldreader announced its next goal, which is to send a million e-books to Sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the year. The organization has partnered with soccer team FC Barcelona and is asking people to join the movement by donating as little as $5.