Library
Foundations (L4L)
You will find related information at the following Links for Libraries: Library Endowments and Fundraising.
Background
An
Introduction to Public Library Foundations
Everything you need to know about planning, establishing, participating in,
monitoring, or revamping a library foundation. Written for the library foundation
board member, this site is useful for anyone with an interest in the subject.
I suggest you begin by clicking on the Table
of Contents in order to get an idea of what the site offers. From the Wyoming
State Library.
What
is a Foundation?
From The Foundation Center, a brief essay on definitions and resources
for further help with understanding what a foundation is and is not.
Don't miss the very short, "plain language" definition of a foundation
in the Youth
in Philanthropy section or An
Abbreviated History of the Philanthropic Tradition in the United States.
Fund
Development
This Oregon State Library site discusses forming a library foundation, resources
for a library foundation, and planned giving. The sample by-laws for library
foundations established in Oregon can serve as models for any foundation writing
or reviewing its own by-laws.
Create
a Planned Giving Bequest for Your Library
A California consultant's look at the changing nature of fundraising,
the private/public partnership, and the potential of planned giving. "Public
libraries are bureaucratic, traditional, and serve a broad constituency.
Private foundations are efficient, unconventional, and serve a highly
specialized constituency. The probable polarization of a highly tradition-bound
institution with an unconventional one requires special stewardship."
Public
Library Foundations in Missouri
An article from the Missouri Library World by the director of the Kirkwood
Public Library. She defines foundations, compares them to friends groups, enumerates
their advantages and disadvantages, and describes the process of setting up
a foundation. Note Kirkwood's Library Foundation site below.
Wisconsin
Trustee Essential 24: Library Friends and Library Foundations
You might want to compare the discussion of Friends and Foundations here with
those in the article about Missouri Foundations.
Foundations
for the Future, Library Journal
After three years the Public Library of Des Moines Foundation, led by a professional
fundraiser, was bringing in $350,000 annually. This article discusses the success
of private funding for public libraries in recent years and some of the reasons
behind it.
How
to Organize a Friends Foundation
Some library foundations may be a project of the Friends group, even if the
Friends and the foundation are clearly separate organization. Here's a fact
sheet from the Friends of Libraries, USA (FOLUSA).
Sample Foundation Pages
- Appleton Library Foundation
- Madison Public Library Foundation
- Wisconsin Library Association Foundation
- Friends & Foundations of California Libraries
- Kirkwood (Missouri) Public Library Foundation
Supporting public libraries in Outagamie and Waupaca counties