WebJunction

With changing times come changing patterns of funding, and one doesn't have to look far to find a wide variety of different strategies for diversifying the funding base beyond the traditional tax-based support. From memberships and library stores to school or museum partnerships and the NPR funding model (described in this WebJunction article by Steve Coffman), ideas for funding diversity are springing up all over. What follows is a sampling of libraries that are exploring new (and not so new) ways to fund their future.

Perhaps the poster child of alternative funding is the New York Public Library. Its famous research branch (the one with the lions) relies on public money for only 28% of its funding (the norm for public libraries is around 90%). Surf over to www.nypl.org and you'll see why: the first thing that appears in your browser as the page loads is “Support the Library” (under the slogan “Take Out, Give Back”). Also on the site are links to information about:

• Memberships and Contributions - you can become a “Friend,” “Conservator,” member of the “President's Club,” or (if you're in your 20's or 30's) one of the “Young Lions.”

• The Library Shop, including “Made for the NYPL” items, “Books of the NYPL,” and “Reader's Corner.”

Whether you're a big-city library or not, there are lots of ways to capture the retail impulse to your benefit:

• The Friends of the Salinas (CA) Public Library are running an ongoing online book sale.

• In Woodland, CA, the library has launched an innovative Shop for the Library  program—patrons can make their own purchases online from a variety of vendors, and up to 55% of the purchase price goes to benefit the Library.

• The Boston Public Library has a substantial online store with reprints of images from the library's collection. 

Retail is just one avenue for generating library support. Libraries are also making direct appeals for funds through their Web sites (and beyond):

• In Southport, CT, the Pequot Public Library has a substantial (over $200,000 per year) Annual Giving campaign. The site proclaims “`All we offer is free of charge, but not free of cost.' It is the generosity of Pequot Library Association donors that keeps the doors open and the lights on.”

• Wood Library (in Canandaigua, NY) has assembled a tidy summary of ways to donate money, from purchasing books to contributing to the annual fund drive (give $50 and borrow fine-free for a year!).

• In East Hampton, NY, the library society's Office of Planned Giving offers library memberships—with each membership tier bringing additional member benefits.

• A large urban library with a clear focus on soliciting public financial support is the Providence (RI) Public Library. Their Support the Library page sums up the various ways to give (including their participation in the United Way campaign).

Many libraries were initially established with endowments, and that funding tradition is alive and well:

• In Woodbridge (CT) the Town Library is actively encouraging contributions to their decades-old trust fund.

• The Lauri Ann West Memorial Library in Pittsburgh, PA, was established by gift in the 1970's, and is also soliciting donations to keep the library vibrant.

• The newsletter of the Bangor (ME) Public Library offers this low-key, but heartfelt, plea for public donations to add substance to its endowment.

• The Lewes (DE) Public Library has decided that an endowment can be part of the future as well as the past, and is launching a campaign to establish a new one.

And finally, be sure to thank your donors in as many ways as you can, like the Calgary Public Library Foundation does with their Virtual Donor Wall.