Big Give Christmas Challenge 2025

The enjoyment of reading and access to books can transform a child’s life. Books not only create magical moments of escapism – they also provide the academic and emotional skills needed to secure a child’s future success.  

Sadly, 1 in 5 young children do not own a single book (National Literacy Trust). Since 2010, we have been fighting this inequality in education by bringing the gift of books and the joy of reading directly into the homes of children from areas of disadvantage. 69% of the caregivers we visit say our service has helped their children to read better. 68% said their children enjoy reading for pleasure more since joining Doorstep Library.

With an estimated 19,000 adults in the UK struggling to pay for everyday living (The Childhood Trust) and 1 in 6 children estimated to struggle with a mental health problem (Young Minds, 2021), the socioeconomic gap between children experiencing poverty and their more affluent peers is only getting wider. 

Here’s where we come in – Doorstep Library offers at-home reading visits for 0–11-year-olds living in areas of disadvantage. Our service is completely free for the families we visit, allowing them to engage with the latest books without financial concern.

Our highly trained, compassionate volunteers are paired with each family, visiting same children every week during term time. This way, we get to know the children and build an understanding of their unique skills and interests. We take pride in choosing books that will genuinely spark excitement in the children and we look to reflect their diverse experiences back to them. 

Providing a reading service like ours might sound simple, but it requires a lot of love, care, and attention to deliver the best possible service to the children we see. The money raised could help us to deliver the training, safeguarding, and recruitment of Doorstep Library volunteers that we need to bring books to the 600 children we see every year.  

We also need money to buy books. By purchasing the latest children’s titles where possible, we ensure that the children we see don’t feel left behind by their more affluent peers. Our goal is to keep children invested and interested in reading for the long-term.