Studying Liberally - Make Your Text Book Purchases Support Your Activism

I was a bit inspired by Justin's post last week about ways students returning to school can buy their new gear in a sustainable way, and thought I'd revive an old post from way back in the day.

Every semester, college students spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on textbook purchases. Frequently these text books go for outrageous prices. Wouldn't it be great if some of that money could go towards your activism instead of into the pocket of publishers with dubious liberal credentials?

The College Democrats of Harvard University hit upon an easy way to do just that using Amazon.com’s Associates Program. The Associates’ Program allows third parties to refer book sales to Amazon by pasting a simple HTML badge into their website. Referrers can earn between 5% and 10% of the sales they direct to Amazon based on the volume of sales.

How did it pay off for the Harvard College Dems?

“Last year we sold $6000 through Amazon.com, earning the Dems about $360,” Dems Treasurer Harlan M. Piper ’08 wrote in an e-mail. “So far this year, we’ve sold about $1600, though we hope that number will go up as people buy more books!”

...

“It’s not a huge amount of money, but it’s significant,” he said, adding that the windfall is enough to fund perks like pizza at general board meetings.

So how can you make this work for you on your own campus? It couldn’t be simpler:

• Sign-up for Amazon’s program (this will require a checking account or a PayPal account). For tax purposes and transparency, it’s probably best if this account is in the name of your organization.
• Paste the Amazon Search badge onto your group’s website. If you don't have a website, sign up for a free Word Press blog. Here's a look at what the Harvard Dems did:

• Request that all of your members, their friends, and anyone sympathetic to the goals of your organization buy their course books through the search badge. Use Facebook and anything other tool at your disposal to promote this fundraiser to as many students as possible.
• Rake in the cash.

Through their Amazon referral link, the Harvard College Democrats were able to raise $360 a semester. Not bad for some quick HTML work. With some good promotion via Facebook, and requests to get your non-political friends to support you through their own text book purchases, who knows what you could do . . .