Pushtak Sangh - A Community Powered Book Donation Network

Books don’t belong on shelves — pass them on. Pushtak Sangh gives books a second life by connecting donors with readers.

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Inspiration

Across schools, hostels, and homes, books often end up locked on shelves long after they are read. At the same time, millions of students struggle to afford books or access libraries. We wanted a simple, community-powered way to give books a second life instead of letting them go to waste.

The idea of location-based matching came from noticing that people are willing to donate, but do not know who nearby needs their books. That gap inspired Pushtak Sangh.

In simple math terms: \( \text{Impact} \propto \text{Books Reused} \)

What It Does

Pushtak Sangh allows anyone to list books they want to donate and match with readers nearby. Users can:

  • Browse available books
  • Filter by location and distance
  • Directly connect with donors for pickup

It turns book donation into a frictionless, hyper-local experience that helps books reach new homes.

How We Built It

We built a web platform where users can:

  • Sign up and add books with title, genre, and condition
  • Share their approximate location (not exact addresses for safety)
  • View nearby books using location-based filtering
  • Connect via messaging / DM or contact exchange

A simple way to express matching: $$ \text{Match} = \text{Donor Location} \cap \text{Reader Location} $$

Challenges We Ran Into

  • Making the UI simple enough for non-technical users
  • Designing privacy-friendly location sharing

Accomplishments We Are Proud Of

  • Built a working prototype that can list and discover donated books
  • Created clean, location-based filtering to match donors and readers
  • Kept the experience free, community-driven, and sustainability-focused
  • Designed a platform that can scale into NGOs, schools, and libraries

What We Learned

  • Community platforms need trust, safety, and simplicity
  • Even small sustainability ideas can unlock community engagement

What's Next for Pushtak Sangh -- A Community Powered Book Donation Network

  • Enable book-request posts and smart matching
  • Add a mobile app for easier book uploading
  • Add badges / reputation for trusted donors
  • Onboard schools, colleges, and coaching institutes

Built With

  • axios
  • bcrypt
  • chart.js-(react-chartjs-2)
  • cors
  • dotenv
  • express.js
  • javascript
  • jsonwebtoken
  • jwt
  • mongodb
  • mongoose
  • multer
  • node.js-backend)-frontend:-react-18
  • nodemon-database:-mongodb-(atlas-suggested)-cloud-services:-firebase-sdk-(env-configured)-apis:-rest-endpoints-under-/api/donations-(+-static-/uploads)-tooling:-eslint
  • postcss/autoprefixer
  • react
  • react-hook-form
  • react-router
  • redux-toolkit
  • rest
  • sweetalert2-backend:-express
  • swiper
  • tailwind
  • tailwind-css
  • vite
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