Update: Please note that this application process closed on 30 July. We are not accepting any new applications as we’re currently in the review process.

1 July 2021: Book Dash Board Member Positions advertisement

Book Dash is a South African-based social-impact publisher of children’s books. Our vision is that “Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five”, and our innovative publishing model (driven by professional creative volunteers) allows us to produce an abundance of books at a fraction of the usual cost. 

We have printed and distributed 1.5 million physical books to children under five in South Africa, and our books are read by hundreds of thousands of people across the globe on free reading platforms, and adapted in many different ways. We’re a registered NPO and PBO. More at bookdash.org.

Book Dash is an ambitious organisation, established in 2014 and growing in impact yearly. To help us achieve our goals, the Book Dash team is seeking to appoint new Board members to bring fresh insights and new skill sets to the organisation. We are not necessarily looking for executive-level applicants with Board-level experience, but for capable, interested and committed people who can help us achieve our vision. 

Who we’re looking for

Black South Africans* who have skills and experience in any of the following areas are invited to apply to join this award-winning non-profit organisation:

  • Specialists in child development in general and ECD and early literacy in particular
  • Specialists in reading promotion, language acquisition and/or multi-lingualism
  • Specialists in diversifying across geographies 
  • Specialists in social impact with access to diverse areas of funding or partnerships 
  • Specialists in logistics and scaling (e.g. FMCG)
  • Specialists in financial, legal or business management.

Book Dash’s core principles are listed below, and whoever wants to join our Board needs to be a believer in all of them:

  • Ownership: Owning books is essential to a young child’s well-being and development.
  • Abundance: A child needs to own many books in order to fall in love with reading.
  • Representation: Young children need access to books in which they can read about characters that reflect their realities, in the language that they know best. 
  • Enjoyment: Our books are fun and engaging to create avid readers – they are not reading instruction materials.
  • Openness: Book Dash books are published under a Creative Commons open license license. This means that there are no rights to sell, and no option of exclusivity: the books are a gift to the world, and are free for anyone to use, thereby drastically increasing their reach.
  • Early impact: The earlier the intervention, the bigger the impact.

About the role

  • Board members are not paid for their time and input.
  • There are two scheduled Board meetings per year, as well as some subcommittee work.
  • All meetings and work is conducted online, so candidates can be based anywhere, but would need reliable access to the internet.
  • Terms for Board Members are 3 years long, with an initial probation period.

We are open to applications from people who believe in what we do, and feel that they can contribute meaningfully.

Process to apply

If you are interested in joining the Book Dash Board, please send a letter of motivation to board@bookdash.org. In the letter, please highlight relevant experience, explain why you would like to join the Book Dash Board, and what contribution you think you would make. You can include your CV should you wish, but should assume that we might only read your letter of motivation in the initial selection process.

 We reserve the right to not appoint anyone.

*Although this is not a B-BBEE position, Book Dash is committed to increasing our diversity in decision-making positions in the organisation, and this includes (but is not limited to) racial diversity. As a result, we are seeking candidates as per the B-BBEE Act guidelines laid out in the act and detailed below:

“Black people is a generic term which means Africans, Coloureds and Indians–

  • Who are citizens of the Republic of South Africa by birth or descent; or
  • Who became citizens of the Republic of South Africa by naturalization.”