Community Partners

Just as the public library promotes the common good of the community, so too can the community work to promote the good of the library. Two community organizations in particular can help sustain local public libraries: Friends of the Library and a local library foundation.

Friends of the Library

In many Montana communities, citizens who support the public library have established Friends of the Library organizations. A Friends of the Library group is a nonprofit organization that voluntarily supports library causes and services. Each group has its own bylaws, board, committees and policies, and sets its own goals.

It is important for the library Board to work closely with the Friends group to ensure that the goals of these volunteers are consistent with those of the library. The Friends' role can be enormously important, especially in small libraries with very limited budgets.

Friends of Libraries USA
American Library
Association
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611
http:// www.folusa.com

The Friends can serve as publicity agents for the library, sponsoring cultural and educational programs, as well as advocates for the library with local government. They can develop and coordinate volunteer services in cooperation with the library director and staff; organize fund-raising events; and encourage donations of books, videos, compact discs and other materials, as well as bequests and endowments.

To prevent public confusion or misunderstanding about the role of the Friends group, the library Board needs to clearly communicate its needs and expectations of the organization. In some communities, a trustee is appointed to act as a liaison to the Friends to ensure coordination of the group's activities with library policies and goals. In turn, a member of the Friends group might be invited to attend Board meetings.

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Library Foundations

As mentioned in Chapter 10, library foundations can be a valuable funding tool to encourage gifts, bequests, memorials and other monetary donations. The foundation board and staff, if any, also represent another partnership for the Board. As with the Friends organization, a local library foundation can be of immense help but open communication is key. The Board and the foundation need to work in concert for the good of the library.

A library foundation functions as a separate entity and can attain nonprofit tax status (known as 501c3) from the Internal Revenue Service, so that gifts are tax deductible for the donors. Establishing a library foundation also opens up the potential of funds from other foundations that do not give grants to tax-supported agencies.

See Chapter 10 for information on other funding sources, including grant resources, that might be of interest to a library foundation.

IRS 501c3 Summary Information
http://www.essential.org/cac/501c3.html

IRS 501c3 Tax Exempt Code
http://ftp.fedworld.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p557.pdf

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Table of Contents-Letter-Introduction-Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, Glossary, Internets Links, Calendar of Events, Freedom to Read Statement, Index