I launched the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation online on the 31st of October, 2014. The date was not chosen by chance - on the 31st of October in 1811, Jane Austen’s first novel, Sense & Sensibility, was published and Jane achieved her goal of becoming a published author. Jane was living in a cottage on her brother Edward’s Chawton estate, where I had the privilege of growing up.

We have a goal - to improve literacy rates in developing communities, in honour of Jane Austen, and as we celebrate our 5th birthday it seemed fitting to reflect on the progress we have made in the last year and share some of what is coming up in the coming year.

Caroline Jane Knight - Founder & Chair

It’s been another exciting year for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation.  With the launch of our Literacy Mentor and Literacy Ambassador Programs last year, the number of people regularly volunteering their time to the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation has grown to 52!  All of our programmes have grown and we are proud to be supporting literacy around the world, in honour of Jane Austen. Read below for a summary of our programmes and activities.

Did you know….

Literacy Libraries - Funding Literacy Projects

Managed by Caroline Jane Knight - Thanks to the generosity and collective efforts of the Jane Austen community, in the last year the Foundation has funded 100 e-readers, e-library access, teacher training and literacy support for Suhum MA Experimental C school, located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, managed by Worldreader:

In Australia we have increased the size of the e-library available for children with the Indigenous Reading Project by 20%:

And for our latest appeal we have already raised enough money for two public daycare centers, called Anganwadi, in Delhi, to participate in the Worldreader Read to Kids programme:

Caroline’s visit to Delhi is giving us a great insight into the impact we are making to literacy in India and how we can make a bigger difference in the future:

“It is such a privilege to be invited into these communities to see first hand the challenges faced in developing the literacy skills needed for a brighter future. I talked to parents, teachers, government ministers and literacy experts and am so pleased to see first hand the contribution the Jane Austen community is making to improving literacy rates in India. Seeing it for myself has helped me understand how the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation can add the most value to literacy in India in the future. I have taken lots of pictures and video footage and look forward to sharing these with you all when I get back to my office”

Literacy Mentors - Volunteer Programme

Managed by Jacqueline Harris - On the 8th of September this year, our Literacy Mentors programme celebrated its one year anniversary! Our team of volunteer Literacy Mentors invest a few hours each month to read and comment on the writing of students. Our comments provide encouragement and support to help foster a love of writing in students across the globe! Our program partner Pobble have been recommending targeted schools for our mentors to focus on, so we can support students from a variety of communities. We look forward to continuing to build the program with Pobble and our team of Literacy Mentors. If you would like to volunteer as a Literacy Mentor email literacymentors@janeaustenlf.org for an information pack.

Literacy Ambassadors - Volunteer Programme

Managed by Sandra Platt - Our Literacy Ambassador programme launched in May 2018, and our growing team of Literacy Ambassadors is spread far and wide, with 17 members based across the UK, USA, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Australia.  

As well as spreading the word about the Foundation, Literacy Ambassadors fundraise or donate a minimum of £100 during each calendar year, and to date we’ve have had a mixture of both.  

A great example, as well as Hazel Mills’ initiative to start an annual Tea for Literacy (detailed below), was Karin Quint’s fundraiser to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her website, JaneAusten.nl, from which she raised an amazing £460! 

If you’d love to become part of our wonderful team of volunteers helping to increase literacy rates in honour of Jane Austen, email admin@janeaustenlf.org for a Literacy Ambassador information and sign up pack.

Bookplates - Jane Austen Collectables to thank our Donors

Managed by Julia Grantham - The Bookplate Programme celebrates its birthday on the same day as the Foundation, for bookplates were the way Caroline wanted to say ‘Thank You’ to Jane Austen Literacy Foundation donors for their support. Ever since, everyone who contributes towards one of our charitable causes receives a unique bookplate personalised with a number and their name in Jane Austen’s handwriting.

In five years, the Programme has undergone some important changes and has become a Collectable Bookplate Programme, unique to the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation.

We have reached out to some prominent artists who responded with great enthusiasm to our invitation to create exclusive bookplates for the Foundation. Since 2014, we have launched six collectable bookplates and now include an informative covering letter about our generous artists. Above are the six amazing bookplates we have already shared with our community. It is wonderful to see the variety of styles and artistic takes on the overarching inexhaustible subject of our passion for reading and love of Jane Austen.

To celebrate the fifth birthday of the Foundation, we are very proud to present to you our seventh Collectable Bookplate created in collaboration with the Jane Austen Fan Club (Facebook Page) by prominent and prolific Utah-based artist, Steven Keele.

For your personalised bookplate simply make a donation here

Pride & Possibilities - Our Journal

Managed by Emily Prince - Bringing you exclusive articles from Austen experts, the Jane Austen community and her family, it has been a milestone year for Pride & Possibilities, with the first month of 2019 marking our 50th issue! Particular highlights from the year (though all our posts are accomplished, unique and well received!) include a contribution from renowned academic and author Dr Helena Kelly (author of Jane Austen, the Secret Radical and JALF Ambassador) and a fascinating report from Karen Ievers and Dr Sophia Hillan on the priceless discovery of Jane Austen's extended family photographs. We are so grateful to all our contributors for their fascinating insight and generosity - we can't wait to share our next few issues with you and are having a lovely time filling our publication calendar for 2020!

Events

There were lots of events this year around the world raising money for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation, attended by Caroline or our Literacy Ambassadors. 

Particular highlights include the Tea for Literacy event by Hazel Mills, the first annual high tea Hazel will host to raise funds for the Foundation: 

We had a fabulous time at Jane Austen Regency Week in Alton and Chawton in June – and were joined by all of our Programme Managers and many of our Literacy Ambassadors, UK Ambassadors. the Pineapple Appreciation Society and Janeites from around the world:

Almost £5000 was raised for our Literacy Libraries India Appeal with various fundraising initiatives including a Jane Austen Walk for Literacy in Chawton, a Regency Picnic on the lawns of Chawton House and a stall at the Regency Market in Alton.

Thank you and well done to our star fundraiser, Ambassador and Bookplate Programme Manager Julia Grantham, who raised £610 through her sponsorship page for the Jane Austen Walk for Literacy:

We were delighted to be joined for the Jane Austen Parade for Literacy and the Regency Picnic by JALF Ambassadors Helena Kelly and Susannah Harker.

Susannah entertained us all with a scene from her wonderful play Austen Sisters with her sister Nelly Harker. We were also entertained with various performances, regency games and dancing by the talented Pineapple Appreciation Society.

Join us at Jane Austen Regency Week in 2020 - we are planning some great events (to be announced in January)

The Jane Austen Winter Festival in Altona (in Victoria, Australia) in July was hosted by the Louis Joel Gallery and Community Centre and featured an impressive line up of speakers and performances. Organised by JALF Co-Founder and Ambassador Amanda Mortensen, the festival attracted great newspaper and radio coverage and raised money for the Indigenous Literacy Project in Australia:

What’s planned for the coming year

The rapid growth of the Foundation over the last year has exceeded all of our expectations. Not that we are complaining, it’s fantastic! 

We will continue to raise money for our Literacy Libraries India appeal - click here for more information.

We will be updating our existing programmes to reflect the learning we have from the last year and Caroline’s visit to India (watch this space), and we will be working on the expansion and improvement of our infrastructure and volunteer management systems to better manage the larger organisation we have become. 

As part of the next stage of our growth, we are now looking to recruit three new volunteers to help manage and run the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation. 

Recruitment – Would you like to join the JALF team?

Communications Manager - to maintain the JALF database, to write JALF communications and press releases and distribute via social media, the JALF website, our database and relevant media.

Graphic Designer – to create JALF collateral as required, e.g. posters, leaflets, bookmarks, fundraising kits.

Operations/Admin Assistant – to support our Chair in the day to day running of the organisation (Australia preferred location).

The JALF team are all volunteers and can be located anywhere in the world, unless otherwise stated.  All roles are expected to be 2 – 4 hours per week on average. If you would like to express your interest in any role and to receive a position description, please email admin@janeaustenlf.org. Recruitment for these roles will start on 1st December 2019 and be concluded before Christmas.

Thank you

The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation is a volunteer organisation that relies on the generosity and commitment of the Jane Austen community – we thank each and every one of you for supporting the Foundation.

We would like to thank all of our volunteers including the board, our management team, our ambassadors, our literacy mentors, our literacy ambassadors and all of the volunteers that help at our events and fundraising activities.

We would also like to thank all of our donors and fundraisers who have enabled us to fund such important literacy projects.

Finally, we would like to thank Jane Austen, the woman who has brought us all together!

The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Team

If you would like to support the work of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation you can volunteer or make a donation here.