Bibles are donated more often than almost any other book and accepted in fewer places, because thrift stores end up with more than they can sell and libraries will not take them. The organizations built for this ship them overseas or into prisons, where demand runs well ahead of supply. This page covers who takes what, the one rule prisons impose, and the respectful options for a Bible too worn to pass on.
Love Packages collects Bibles and Christian literature across the United States and ships them to distributors worldwide, and it publishes an unusually clear accept list. It takes Bibles new or used, in any translation, including New Testaments, individual portions, and gospel booklets; all Christian books for adults or children; adult Sunday school quarterlies and teacher manuals from any publisher; devotionals and magazines from Christian publishers; reference works such as Bible dictionaries and commentaries; and Christian CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray.
What it declines: VHS tapes, records, and 8-tracks; Guideposts magazine; handiwork and busy papers from Sunday school kits; secular books other than dictionaries; and missions magazines. Shipments go to its locations in Butler, Illinois and Decatur, Alabama; contact the organization for the current address and shipping guidance before sending a pallet or a box.
Demand inside prisons is the highest of any destination on this page, and the constraint is format rather than content. Nearly every facility accepts paperbacks only, and most require books to be sent from a publisher or an approved organization rather than an individual, which is why going through a ministry works and mailing a box yourself usually does not. Prison Alliance, formerly Christian Library International, distributes Bibles and Christian books to prisons across all 50 states.
The direct route is the chaplain at your nearest facility. Chaplains know exactly what their library lacks, and they can tell you whether they can receive a donation directly. Study Bibles, large-print editions, and Spanish-language Bibles are the perennial shortages.
Your own congregation is the fastest route for a small number: most churches keep a shelf for visitors and newcomers, and many run mission trips that carry Bibles. Bible Senders accepts new, used, and older Bibles in any language for distribution abroad. Gideons and similar distribution organizations generally place new Bibles rather than collecting used ones, so ask before assuming. Christian schools take gently used Bibles and study materials for classroom sets.
Goodwill and the Salvation Army accept Bibles among books and sell them cheaply. It is a legitimate destination and the least efficient one, because stores receive far more Bibles than they sell and the surplus goes to the recycling grade. Use it for a Bible in good condition when no other route is convenient, and prefer a ministry for anything current, large print, or in a translation in demand.
A Bible with a broken spine, missing pages, or water damage cannot be passed on, and many people are uncomfortable putting one in the recycling. There is no single religious rule, and practice varies by tradition. Common respectful options are to recycle it as paper, to bury it, or to burn it, and some churches will handle it for you if you ask; a few keep a practice for retiring worn scripture. Family Bibles with inscriptions are a different matter: a local historical society, genealogy library, or the family member most likely to want the record inside is a better destination than any charity.
Last updated September 2026. Errors: [email protected]
American households own more Bibles than they use, and thrift stores receive the surplus in volume; the shelf price reflects it. Prisons, jails, and overseas distributors have the opposite problem and cannot fill requests. The gap is logistical rather than material: prisons restrict what can arrive and from whom, overseas shipping costs money, and neither constraint is visible to someone holding a box at a donation door. Routing through an organization built for the constraint is the entire trick.
General books have far more destinations than Bibles do, covered in where to donate books near me, and textbooks have their own age rules in where to donate textbooks. Christian CDs and DVDs go to Love Packages with the books; other media is covered in where to donate VHS tapes and CDs.