WebJunction

To reply to my own post...

As discussed in this month's library of the month article, White Pine Public Library has a "parking meter" in front of their circulation desk that collects change from the patrons. They use the change to buy big ticket items that aren't usually covered by technology grants. Fabulous idea. I wonder who thought of it?

I know there are more little nuggets out there. Tell, tell...

Here's the link to a library in NY doing "donate a book" forms from their home page. Not quite the same thing, but a related option...

[url http://www.nassaulibrary.org/emeadow/ ]http://www.nassaulibrary.org/emeadow/[/url]

This post has been moved by an administrator. It was originally posted by ATREDDIN on Jun 16, 2003.

When facing a fundraising event, sometimes the basics are the best beginnings. Libraries across the country use the traditional book sale, raffles, and/or auctions (including silent) to raise money. The biggest delimma is the logistical planning and finding someone to chair.

[url http://www.brantford.library.on.ca/helpus.shtml ]http://www.brantford.library.on.ca/helpus.shtml[/url]

[url http://www.ci.arlington.tx.us/libraries/ ]http://www.ci.arlington.tx.us/libraries/[/url]

[url http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/friends/booksale.html ]http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/friends/booksale.html[/url]

Okay, here's an idea that I borrowed from the NW Aids Foundation:

They have an annual "Dine Out for Life" event, in which participating restaurants agree to donate some part of their profits from a designated evening. All that people who want to support the cause have to do is go out for dinner. How painless is that? There are donation cards on every table in case they get motivated (after a couple of glasses of wine) to contribute even more. The restaurants love the business, and the patrons have a great time.

So why not have a "Take Your Library to Dinner" event? You would need to enlist the help of local restaurants, advertise with posters and radio spots, but beyond that the initial investment is minimal. I'm not in any position to try this, but maybe someone else will.

If you manage to put this plan into action, I would really like to hear how it worked - for better or for worse.

I don't know when -- but there's a great need to expand our local history collection and no one in the township currently interested in doing it. I can see kicking off a local history group -- with the mission being to purchase a "planetary" microfilm camera for the library. The idea here is to get church bulletins and such out of basements and on to archival quality film.

I had little idea how beneficial a "friends group" could be until I visited the website of [url http://www.folusa.org ]The Friends of the Library USA.[/url] I think I found the motherload of fun and funky fundraising ideas.

Scroll down to the "Idea Bank" and just start exploring. My favorite idea is from the Upland, CA Friends Group -- their "Simply Sinful Samples" chocolate tasting bash. People paid to taste a huge variety of chocolate treats, including chocolate enchiladas.

Who says food and libraries don't mix?

This is a great idea made even better by inviting the community into the project. Everybody likes a new cookbook, so they should be easy to sell. And it?s an ongoing fundraiser, not just a one shot effort.

Our moderator, Jim Swan, has a whole chapter on cookbooks in his book, Fundraising for Libraries. He says there are publishers who specialize in fundraising cookbooks, if the job gets too overwhelming for your in-house bookbinder. Find them on the Internet by searching for "cookbook publisher" & "fundraising" and request a getting started kit for pricing and binding options.

Another tip from Jim for how much to charge for your cookbook: "If no one complains about the price, you are probably not charging enough." Remember that the community *wants* to support their library, so capitalize (within reason) on this generous spirit. Bon appetit!

We just got the word that our trustees are finally really interested in a Friends group, $3.00 to join, and they can do fundraising. We are starting Cans for Fines soon, continuing thru March.
We just stopped charging for residential library cards, but will continue to charge those free-loading outta towners.
My director tells us she has written 12 grant requests so far, and is like a terrier, searching for more.

One of the best and most profitable fundraisers that we had was "Guess who's coming to Dinner" to celebrate the library's anniversary. We and the local museum were able to get the services of the "Young Chatauqua", a group of young people in the state who research and perform in costume historical persons. We charged $10.00/person or $15.00/couple. We also were able to have a local restaurant cater the buffet dinner. The "historical characters" interacted with the diners in character and the diners had to guess who they were. The person who guessed the most correct received a prize. The library was filled to the brim with people of all ages and it was great fun. Absolutely a success.

By the way, Welcome to the Forum Dianna! Keep the great ideas coming!

I know Valentine's Day is over, but I just saw this on LIS news:

Check out [url http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F02%2F14%2Fnluv14.xml ]this article[/url] about an event called "Mingle" (British Library's "first ever singles night") where they invites singles for a private viewing of romantic books!

Talk about "where minds meet..." (wink, wink)

One of our best fundraising events came from a library presenter. One winter I had a mehndi artist come and teach teens and adults how to design patterns and prepare and use henna for temporary tattoos. (For a definition, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehndi.) She loved our little library so much, she offered to donate her time for a fundraiser. We would only have to pay for the henna used if it went over a certain amount (henna is very inexpensive).

So one spring afternoon, she brought her supplies to the library and applied henna designs for patrons at her regular prices, which are from $5 to $50, with most designs being $25. Mehndi is very popular, especially during the summer months. Many patrons commented that it was nice to get a design at the library instead of fighting off crowds at a local fair. We only did it for a couple of hours on a wet spring day and made $150 dollars, which is the same we make in our lobby booksale in a month. So for us it was a success, as well as being fun for everyone involved. And the artist volunteered to do it again next summer, with the suggestion of tying it into an event we already have going.

For a bigger library, you would probably need two or more artists working at the same time. But it's a fun event with a low overhead.

Thanks Sarah! I suppose temporary tattoos are more cost effective for patrons than real tattoos anyway, though I am partial to the real thing! :-)

I think it's a great idea, but I would definitely do some sort of advertising for it. I worked many many a Holiday season for B&N and since they got a lot of traffic, they did well financially with the GW. People probably won't expect their local library to do something similar - so they might not come if they don't know about it! Good luck!!

Thanks Bob!

I had someone in the SOLINET region ask me recently about this - how to contact celebrities to see if they would sign their "I Read" posters. I haven't heard back as to if that was successful or not...