“In Other Words,” a feminist bookstore in Portland — one of the last non-profit feminist bookstores in the country, I suspect — is in financial trouble. They’ve been hit hard by the recession, so they’re doing a fundraiser, trying to raise $11,000 by the end of December. They’re not just a bookstore — they’re also a community center for many of Portland’s feminists.
The good news is, they’ve already raised $7,000, in the first five days of fundraising! So although it’s tough, there’s real hope they’ll make it. So go to their website! Donate! Purchase!
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Amp,
The feminist bookstore in my town has arranged an income stream from local universities. They supply all the supplemental texts for womens studies classes at three schools. Just wanted to mention it in case the approach might be helpful for your local store.
They also set themselves up as a quasi-non-profit. Ordinary book sales are still treated as a regular business. Other activities however, like having weekly speakers or sponsoring weekend activities for kids, are covered on the non-profit side. The non-profit activities are paid for by something they call a circle of friends – wealthy donors who can afford to cover the community outreach activites so those costs don’t need to come out of the retail budget.
Lightly, I’m pretty sure In Other Words has a similar arrangement — when I was a student at PSU, all the WS textbooks were purchased from In Other Words. (And they’re a non-profit.)