Yahoo Finance Book charity solves $482k mystery donation
When UK and Irish bookseller charity, The Book Trade Charity, received a £250,000 (AU$482,000) donation, it rejoiced - that was the equivalent of half its annual income.
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The charity is designed to help independent booksellers and those who work in the publishing, printing and distribution sector, many of which have been forced to close doors due to coronavirus.
It’s received more than £68,000 in public donations, with major publisher Penguin Random House also pledging £50,000.
But these donations were eclipsed by a “low key” £250,000 donation.
It’s now been confirmed that the mystery donor behind the whopping £250,000 boost was none other than original bookstore disruptor, Amazon.
The Book Trade Charity chief executive Dan Hicks said he received a call from Amazon offering the donation directly to the charity, rather than through the fundraising page in a bid to keep the donation low profile.
“Amazon came to us and said they would like to put some money into our fund, particularly to help at this time and that they would prefer it to be low-key," he told the BBC.
But after trade publisher the Bookseller published a story on the huge anonymous donation, the charity was forced to confirm Amazon had made the donation.
Hicks noted the history of Amazon and booksellers, but said he welcomed the donation.
Amazon opened its online bookstore in 1995, and has since been accused of damaging the independent bookstore industry, while others have defended the retailer.
"A large part of the trade, particularly on the publishing side, works very closely with Amazon," Hicks said.
"But the bookselling side does have rather a more strained relationship."
Regardless, he told CNN, “Receiving half our annual income, on top of our annual income, is a tremendous boost for the work that we can do.”
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