One person started this program with a donation large enough to send more than 1,000 copies of What is Karma? free to people in prisons and rehabilitation programs throughout the USA and Canada.

We have learned that it is best to offer the books directly to prisoners on request, rather than simply to prison libraries. So we first announced the availability of this book in the Human Kindness Foundation newsletter, which goes to more than 30,000 prison inmates. Since early 1999, more than 20,000 prisoners have responded to our offer and received free copies.

We also have received many letters of profound thanks from prisoners who have been helped by reading the book. Many of them ask if there are more resources we can send them by Paul Brunton, or other books we consider worthwhile. Thanks to additional donations, we also have been able to send out some 300 copies of Perspectives, volume one of Paul Brunton's Notebooks series, in response to such requests.

Because of the variety of precautions taken by various prisons, we often have to send a book more than once to be sure that it reaches is proper destination. This makes the program a good deal more expensive than we had originally anticipated, and the demand is continuous. Your tax-deductible donation for this purpose will help people with time to reflect deeply on what karma is and how it works.

We would like to expand this program in several ways. One is to increase our visibility in the prisons through announcing this book through additional channels. Another is to be able to offer more of our books in response to follow-up requests. A third is to add books from other publishers to the program. All these things currently involve more funds than we have.

We welcome your suggestions and your support.

World Library Gift Project

We learned in 1985 that few libraries can still be intellectual or spiritual leaders in their community. Most have tiny budgets that go up or down annually in direct proportion to how many books are taken out by patrons. So it's in the interest of these libraries' own survival to buy more copies of what's popular, rather than a broad selection of what may have lasting value. This also means that to make more room for popular books, they often clear out older, less frequently borrowed classics.

Our World Library Gift Project runs counter to this trend. Through it you can make tax-deductible donations to libraries of anything in the Larson Publications catalog. Name a library of your choice (public, school, prison) or we'll pick one from our waiting list. We send only to libraries that confirm in advance that they want the books and will display them publicly.

World Leaders Initiative

This initiative began with a gift earmarked for sending copies of Meditations for People in Charge to international political leaders and diplomats. Thanks to a contact with the United Nations, books went to many people in key positions worldwide. Copies found their way even into the Pentagon and the White House.

Initial responses from recipients were encouraging, and the project has grown to include people in positions to "make a difference" at state, and local levels of government, education, and public service as well. The program also now includes other titles, which donors can specify.

Our research for recipients of these gifts is continual, as people come and go. We invite not only your tax-deductible donations to this program, but also your suggestions for people who should be recipients.