Financial Assistance for Booksellers

Financial help is available for your store and your booksellers! For a wide range of financial needs, visit the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc). For pandemic related needs, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) is compiling Federal, local, and, other non-governmental financial resources here.

Pandemic Preparation & Operation Grants

A program to encourage and support bookstores in safely opening to in-store customer shopping, while implementing health protections for staff and customers.

• Grants are intended to reimburse stores for expenses incurred in the effort to make your physical bookstore safe and sanitary for yourself, booksellers, and customers, including but not limited to:
  • Purchase of masks, gloves and other personal protective items
  • Purchase of hand sanitizer and other disinfectant products
  • Acquisition of fixtures and equipment for creating a safe shopping and selling environment (clear dividers/guards at cash wrap, crowd control/line management, distance markers, anti-microbial fixtures, etc.)
• Grants cannot be used for payroll, rent, or other non-pandemic-related business expenses.
• Maximum of $300 per store, funds are limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Applications Details:
  • Applications open Monday, August 10 (via the form link below)
  • One grant available per store prior to December, 31, 2020, while grant fund lasts.
  • Grants can be applied retroactively to cover previous expenses incurred after May 1, 2020 (with proof of expenditures).
  • Proof of expenditure will be required to receive grant funds.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation is an essential resource in times of crisis. They can help find relief for bookstores and booksellers. Many resources and opportunities for assistance can be found here.

Emergency Financial Assistance for Booksellers:

Higher Education & Professional Development Scholarships:

Small Business Grant Resources

To stay abreast of available grants, visit GrantWatch (you can subscribe to their emails) to get current information on available grants. Also, create a Google Alert for the type of grants you’re looking for.

Give a Bookseller a Lift Travel Grants

GABAL Grants are awarded to booksellers across our region to help with travel expenses attending MPIBA Programs. Coming up next (we hope!): SpringCon 2021 in Texas and in Colorado.

To qualify for a GABAL Travel Grant you must currently work for an MPIBA member bookstore in good standing that is located more than 50 miles from the event location. Please only apply if you are able to travel to the event, and if applicable, have permission from your store owner or manager to attend the program. Travel Grant winners will be drawn randomly from all qualified applicants and will be contacted in advance of the program. Recipients will not be eligible to receive another Travel Grant for five years.

Congratulations to our 2020 GABAL Texas SpringCon Grant Recipient:

Stefani Kelly – The Book Nook, Brenham, TX

Callie Metler – Noteworthy, Stamford, TX

We want to thank our good friends at Binc for funding GABAL travel grants for SpringCon and FallCon each year.

Blue Willow – Vener Barnes Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship to attend the fall trade show and conference is offered by Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas, in honor of her father and bookselling inspiration, Vener Barnes.

The $500 grant is open to any owner or bookseller from an MPIBA member store in good standing, who has never attended the MPIBA fall trade show and conference. Please only apply if you are able to travel to the event, and if applicable, have permission from your store owner or manager to attend FallCon. The grant winner will be drawn randomly from all qualified applicants and will be announced in early September – approximately six weeks before FallCon.

Congratulations to our 2019 Grant Recipient:

Evan Schertz – Maria’s Bookshop, Durango, CO