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Friends and Foundations, Part Two: Is a Merged Friends and Foundation Right for Your Library?

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Friends and Foundations, Part Two: Is a Merged Friends and Foundation Right for Your Library? Framework for Foundations Friends and Foundations, Part Two: Is a merged Friends and Foundation right for your library? BY PETER PEARSON that there is only one nonprofit orga- President, The Friends of the Saint Paul (Minn.) Public nization that needs to recruit board Library members and file annual papers with the state and localities, thus reducing The library world is one of the few administrative overhead to run two or- that I’m aware of in which there are ganizations. two separate and distinct support or- A second strong advantage of ganizations which provide support for the merged model is the time devoted the same institution. by the library director and other key Library Friends groups have been library staff in assisting the library sup- in existence in many communities for port organizations. Library directors more than 100 years. These venerable need to attend board meetings and organizations have provided valuable committee meetings of their library service to their libraries, usually utiliz- support organizations, and having just ing the skills of volunteers from the one organization for this purpose can community with a strong interest in vastly reduce the amount of hours that books and libraries. The typical ac- library directors and staff spend in sup- tivities of a library Friends group can A model of support which is gain- port of those organizations. include book sales, author programs, ing in popularity is what I refer to as Another strength of the merged advocacy, fundraising events, and vol- “the merged model of a library Friends model is bringing together the two unteer activities within library build- group and a library Foundation.” This activities of advocacy and fundraising. ings. merged model is the model which sup- These two activities are natural activi- Library Foundations, on the other ports the Saint Paul Public Library in ties for all support organizations, and hand, are a relatively new addition to Minnesota, from which my experi- can be done most effectively when one the library support world. The majority ence arises. The activities of merged organization has private funds at its of library Foundations have just been Friends and Foundations include all of disposal to use as matching funds to formed within the last 20 years. Unlike the activities of the two organizations leverage new public dollars being re- their counterparts, the library Friends separately. So, for instance, a merged quested through advocacy efforts. groups, library Foundations tend to library Friends and Foundation organi- But probably the strongest reason be staff driven. Activities of library zation can conduct book sales, author for considering a merged organization Foundations tend to be higher level programs and advocacy activities, as is how the community at large might fundraising activities, including annual well as all of the major fundraising ac- understand the library and its support fund solicitations from individuals for tivities, such as planned giving, major structures. Most individuals who are special programs and projects, planned gifts, and capital campaign fundraising. not part of the insider group of library giving activities, corporate foundation One of the keys to the success of a support people will have a difficult grant writing and sponsorships, capi- merged library Friends and Foundation time understanding the distinction tal campaign fundraising for new and is a comprehensive committee struc- between a library Friends group and a renovated buildings, and major gift ture, which allows individuals from the library Foundation. When we’re look- solicitation from individuals. Friends and the Foundation to engage ing to dramatically expand the number In many communities, these two in the activities for which they have of people who make contributions to different and distinct support organiza- the greatest passion. So, individuals the library, the last thing we want to do tions operate side by side in support of who have a passion for used book sales is confuse these individuals with which the same library. Many times, the inter- would have an opportunity to pursue organization does which activities. action between the two groups is very that activity, while individuals who When a donor needs to ask, “Where positive and their work is complemen- prefer higher level fundraising activities do I write my check, to the Friends or tary. However, there are times when would find committee activity relevant the Foundation?,” the likely answer having two separate nonprofit organi- to these interests also. may be that the donor will write it to zations supporting the same library can There are a number of advan- neither. Having just one organization create some overlap in responsibilities tages to the merged model of a library makes it very clear where an indi- and some confusion on the part of the Friends group and Foundation. Prob- vidual’s financial and volunteer support community at large. ably the most obvious advantage is should go. 6 www.ala.org/altaff 1-800-545-2433, ext. 2161 Framework for Foundations Libraries that have developed the In any case, a change to a merged Morgan Hill (Calif.) merged library Friends and Foundation model should be done with a great deal model typically note that these organi- of preliminary planning and the full Library Foundation hosts zations are becoming extremely strong involvement of both of the existing or- Silicon Valley Puzzle Day and vital, working closely with the ganizations to be certain that this is the library in all areas of interest to the li- right move for everyone involved. Even The Morgan Hill (Calif.) Library brary. And being able to show excellent if a decision is made not to merge two Foundation held the fourth annual Sili- results in fundraising and advocacy ef- support groups, the process of discuss- con Valley Puzzle Day, on Jan. 30-31. forts also attracts good board members ing the issue certainly helps to clarify Approximately 200 people par- to an organization. the roles and responsibilities of the ex- ticipated in Puzzle Day events over The other reason that these orga- isting Friends and the existing Founda- the course of two days. Puzzle Day nizations can be popular is that the tion. In these times of shrinking public was organized by the Morgan Hill Li- mission is broad enough to appeal to resources, having efficient and effective brary Foundation, and was originally almost anyone in the community. Or- library support organizations is more started by the Friends of the Morgan ganizations whose sole purpose is to critical than ever. Hill Library to raise money for art and sell used books or whose sole purpose furnishings for a new library. This is it is to raise private funds may have For more information about The the Foundation’s first year organizing a limited number of board members Friends of the Saint Paul Public Li- Puzzle Day. who are attracted to their mission. The brary, visit www.thefriends.org. On Saturday, workshops were merged organizations of library Friends held at the library from 10:30 a.m. to and Foundations can appeal to a broad Peter Pearson has been president of 3:45 p.m., and covered topics such as cross section of every community. The Friends of the Saint Paul Public cryptarithms, “crosswordese,” Nikoli The names associated with organi- Library for 16 years. Under his direc- puzzles, and cryptic crosswords. Two zations like this which have merged a tion, The Friends has received numer- workshops were held especially for Friends group and Foundation are al- ous awards for successful advocacy, children, “Sudoku for Kids” and “Fun ways a locally driven decision, and no public relations, fundraising, and Word Puzzles for Kids.” In addition, one format seems to apply to all librar- cultural programming. Pearson served U.S. Sudoku champion Thomas Snyder ies. In St. Paul, the name of our organi- on the board of Friends of Libraries spoke about solving puzzles in champi- zation has always been The Friends of U.S.A. (FOLUSA), and is currently the onship rounds. Mark Diehl and Andrea the Saint Paul Public Library. Locally, Foundation Section Chair on the AL- Carla Michaels, who have both written the name Friends carries a connotation TAFF board of directors. He provides New York Times crosswords, spoke in of an organization with endowment consulting services to libraries and a panel about crossword construction. funds and a track record of major organizations throughout the country On Sunday, Sudoku, crossword, fundraising and advocacy. and is a frequent speaker at state and and cryptic crossword competitions In San Francisco, which is also a national library conferences. were held. Among the judges was Tyler merged model of Friends and Founda- Hinman, who won has won the Ameri- tion, the merged organization first took can Crossword Puzzle tournament the name “the Friends and Foundation for five consecutive years, and Wei- of the San Francisco Public Library,” This is part two of a two-part Hwa Huang, who designed Google’s and then eventually went back to the series on the dynamic between four-week puzzle event DaVinci Code name “Friends” in recent years. Again, library Friends and Founda- Quest. Competitors battled it out on these decisions are locally driven, and tions. Part one ran in the Janu- giant boards in front of the room. the name does not tend to have a major ary 2010 issue of The Voice. Trophies were awarded to the top win- impact on the success of this model. In part one, Jane Rutledge ner in each category, and prizes were There appears to be more interest of Friends of the Tippecanoe awarded to children who competed, in the merged model than I’ve seen at County (Ind.) Public Library, plus judge’s choice awards for best any time in the past.
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