MALF - Great Ideas

Pearson Named to National Council

Peter D. Pearson, president if The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, was recently elected secretary of the Americans for Libraries Council. A new, national library advocacy group, the Americans for Libraries Council develops and implements programs aimed at realizing the potential of libraries in the 21st century. The 27-member Council includes businesses, civic, educational, library and philanthropic leaders from across the nation.

Peter D. Pearson has served as president of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library for the past twelve years. A sought-after speaker and consultant on library advocacy, Pearson has served as board chair and trustee of the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA), which is the Twin Cities’ regional library system, and a trustee of Metronet, the Twin Cities’ multi-type library system.

The Americans for Libraries Council also elected a full slate of officers at its annual meeting. Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper’s Magazine, will serve as honorary chair. C. Matthews Dick, president of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport , RI , was elected chair, while Diane Filippi, director of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, will serve as vice-chair. John Lazarus, formerly co-chair of the campaign for a new main library in San Francisco , was selected as treasurer.

Great River Regional Library Breaks New Ground With Fundraising Efforts
John Pepper, Great River Regional Library

Like many library systems, Great River Regional Library (GRRL) has seen difficult times the past few years as demand has outstripped funding. In response, the library has taken positive steps to diversify its funding base so that increased demand can be met by increased services.

In April, 2004, Judy Miller was hired to begin full time work as GRRL Fund Development Officer. Her focus is to generate sustainable, ongoing funding sources for GRRL by creating and implementing a strategic fund development plan.

Most of Miller’s experience has been in marketing, public relations and development in for-profit and non-profit organizations. She is working to quickly embed processes learned from her experience into what is a traditional public service sector environment. A primary need is to expand the awareness of people who are loyal to their local branch library of the vital role GRRL plays in providing staff and materials. This will require increased marketing and public relations efforts and advocacy training, and Miller has applied for a Minnesota Library Association Foundation grant to help pay for these. She has met with all of the Board members to garner their support, and she is meeting with branch librarians, their local Boards and Friends groups to build relationships. Successful fund development, she says, is about building relationships and alliances.

She has been given two years to develop a program that pays for itself. The challenges are enormous. GRRL includes 32 public libraries in six counties of Central Minnesota . It’s a 5,000 square mile territory that includes Wright and Sherburne Counties , two of the fastest growing counties in the state, as well as rural areas with declining populations. The system is headquartered in St. Cloud which is geographically central as well as being a regional medical and business center.

The need for fundraising surfaced in 2002, when Director Bescye P. Burnett learned there would be a significant budget shortfall for 2003. The state faced significant reductions in revenue from all tax sources including property, sales, and income. Those reductions resulted in local government aid and homestead and agricultural credit aid cuts that had a big impact on library budgets throughout the state. The 2003 budget had already been supported by a withdrawal of $100,000 from cash reserves, which meant the projected shortfall was estimated at $153,000. This led to a decision to plan for additional closed days and to also establish a fundraising team to avert those closings if possible.

Burnett wanted to learn from fundraising success achieved by another regional library system, but she wasn’t able to find one doing the kind of fundraising she envisaged. She did visit with Peter Pearson of the St. Paul Public Library who oversees a successful fund development office, but he warned her that it had taken ten years to get to the point where St. Paul could raise more than $1 million annually from their direct mail campaign. Still looking for ideas, Burnett completed a grant proposal to the Central Minnesota Initiative Foundation to fund consultant help in creating a fundraising plan.

Meanwhile, the fundraising team began working on its own ideas. They began distributing stuffers at check-out that described the budget predicament. They placed cash donation jars at each library and requested donations. In December, 2002, Burnett began a series of personal visits and did a direct mail request for donations that was sent to approximately 200 individuals and vendors. She saw some success but it was a slow beginning. By mid-January, 2003, donations from the mailing and personal visits totaled $5,648.48. Donations into the jars totaled $275.41.

When the grant funding came through, and it came time for the fundraising consultant to make her report, she recommended that the library hire a fund development officer. “It’s a bad time to start doing fund development,” the consultant said, “but there will never be a better time.”

The library also took a major step to increase public awareness. Staff learned about “Leaders’ Tours ” conducted by the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley (N.Y.) Community Library. The tours were intended to create an opportunity for librarians to invite local community leaders into their library for a short meeting that included a presentation of services and a tour of the facility. GRRL seized this idea as something that could be used to reach key decision makers and opinion shapers at relatively low cost. The Leaders’ Tour concept was shared in detail with branch librarians at staff meetings, and support materials were created including a PowerPoint presentation.

In June, 2003, the first Leaders’ Tour took place at the public library in Rockford , a town of about 3,500. Rockford Public Library has a strong Friends group which provided assistance with food, mailing, decorating and in other ways. Approximately 20 guests attended including past and present school principals, past and present mayors, business owners and a state legislator. It was exactly the audience Burnett wanted as first she, then librarian Gale Bacon, explained how the regional system benefited branch libraries and their patrons.

A further reduced budget for 2004 led to a painful internal reorganization, staff reassignments and a layoff. The good news was that the Board of Trustees approved establishing a fund development position to be paid from cash reserves. Burnett also completed a proposal for funding to cover costs associated with fund raising, such as software, mailings, and staff assistance, and presented it to the Otto Bremer Foundation. According to its web site, the Otto Bremer Foundation “is committed to strengthening the non-profit sector and helping ensure that the organizations serving communities are healthy, strong, and focused on their mission.” It seemed like a good fit and it was. In January, 2004, Burnett received formal confirmation that GRRL’s application for a grant to enable the Fund Development program has been successful. The $45,000 grant could be used in a variety of ways to support the establishment and continuation of fund development activities. Shortly after, Miller was hired.

Her job, a job she says she must share with all the library staff, various Boards, Friends and other advocates for library service, is to convince individuals that libraries are a vital resource, one that is worthy of their financial support. It will require collaborative effort, but it promises rewards that go far beyond quart jars at the desk.