"Today the world population is approaching seven billion people. If we reach 1.5% of them, that is still a hundred million people." 

- Michael S. Hart, Project Gutenberg 

The average public library houses around 30,000 books. 

Project Gutenberg will send you that library on a single DVD. Or you can download it, one book at a time, free of charge. 

Since the rise of the internet, they've researched books that have fallen out of copyright - classics that have become free and legal to share, like Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dracula - digitized them, proofed them and distributed them in languages that the world can read. 

Through one site alone, www.gutenberg.org, they handed out roughly 50 million eBooks last year - books that fuel the free reading on devices like iPads. Through partners, they handed out tens of millions more. (And we haven't even touched on the 94,000 musical scores they've made available.) 

Yet Project Gutenberg operates on a tiny budget - with under $50,000 in revenue - through donated server space and unpaid labor. 

"Project Gutenberg has always been all volunteer, with no grants you would have ever heard of," explains Founder Michael S. Hart, "...the first worldwide organization with no offices, no money, just people with and idea/ideal that everyone should have eBooks, free of charge, as many eBooks as possible to as many people as possible." 

As you might expect, the work takes thousands of volunteers and benefits countless enthusiastic readers. Yet Hart still pays many office expenses out of pocket. 

"I don't need all that much, I buy nearly all at garage sales - though I do need a new set of tires right now," jokes Hart. "However, we always make it, and one reason is that we never do spend the money until we already have it."  

So despite its fame and reach, your $1 donation can make a tangible difference for Project Gutenberg. And should you have some...OK, a lot of free time, their 36,000 eBooks are waiting for you.  

[Lead photo by kodomut]