Donate

The ILBF relies entirely on donations to be able to carry out its work. The charity is very grateful for the support it receives from across the UK.

How do I financially support the ILBF?

You can support the work of the ILBF by making a donation via the Charities Aid Foundation:

DONATE HERE

Or if you prefer to discuss making a financial donation, please get in touch with us by using the ILBF contact form.

How do I practically support the ILBF?

You can support the ILBF in a number of other ways:

  • put us in touch with overseas institutions who would be interested to apply for books
  • packing days
  • shipping and distribution of books
  • administration
  • raising awareness of the ILBF through social media

If you can assist with any of the above, please contact us by using the ILBF contact form and provide us with a description of how you can help.

How to donate books to the ILBF

The ILBF sends English legal texts to organisations overseas. The books distributed by the ILBF are kindly donated by members of the legal community across the UK. Storage space is limited, so it is essential that only suitable and approved books are sent.

Please contact us before sending any books

You must contact the ILBF using the ILBF email address before sending any donation.
When contacting us, please tell us about the books you would like to donate so we can confirm whether they meet our criteria. This helps to reduce costs and save volunteers’ time.

Once your donation has been approved, we will provide you with the address details for the storage facility.

General guidance on books required

The ILBF focuses on collecting core English legal texts that will have the greatest impact and be most relevant to recipient organisations. As storage space is limited, we are only able to accept books that are suitable, relevant and in good condition.

Books the ILBF does not accept

  • Books in poor condition, or books that are torn or marked
  • Books more than 10 years old, unless they are the last edition of a text
  • Non‑legal books
  • UK solicitor or barrister directories
  • Civil or Criminal Procedure texts older than 2023
  • Statute‑based materials (for example, company handbooks)
  • Unbound weekly parts of law reports
  • Law reports unless they are complete sets and in bound volumes (please check with the ILBF first)
  • Halsbury’s Statutes and Halsbury’s Statutory Instruments
  • Scots law materials
  • Current Law Citator
  • Supplements to major works where the main work is not included

Books the ILBF does accept

  • Practitioner texts on all civil and criminal practice areas, including:
    • International law (public and private)
    • Comparative law and conflict of laws
  • Specialist texts, including:
    • Legal philosophy and jurisprudence
    • Legal method and statutory interpretation
    • The study of law, advocacy and legal careers
  • University‑level law textbooks on all subject areas (including cases and materials texts)
  • Legal dictionaries, including Words and Phrases Legally Defined and Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary
  • Legal encyclopaedias, including individual volumes of Halsbury’s Laws (provided they are no more than 10 years old)
  • The Digest, Atkins Court Forms and Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents
  • Criminal and Civil Procedure texts from 2024 onwards, including books on evidence

Preparing and packing your donation

Before sending books, please ensure that:

  • No highlighting has been used and no marginal notes have been made in pen or pencil
  • All post‑it notes have been removed
  • Where books form part of a multi‑volume work or series, the volumes are packed together and, where possible, in successive boxes to make unpacking and shelving easier for recipients

If your donation fills one or more boxes, please attach a contents list to the outside of each box.

Sending your books

Unfortunately, the ILBF is not able to reimburse the cost of sending donated books to the storage facility.