Keywords
Citation
Fitzsimons, E. (1999), "Donations", The Bottom Line, Vol. 12 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.1999.17012dab.005
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Donations
Donations
Keywords: Teleconferencing, Library users, Libraries, Fund-raising
The Toledo-Lucas County (Ohio) Public Library received its largest donation ever. On July 13, Harold and Helen McMaster presented the library with a check for $850,000, which will be used for the McMaster Family Lifelong Learning Center. The center will have a 300-sear auditorium with teleconferencing capabilities. The gift was made on the eve of the library's launching a capital fund campaign to expand the main facility. McMaster is the cofounder of Solar Cells, Inc., and holds over 100 patents for glass-bending machinery and solar cell panels.
Not all donors come through. Kansas City Chiefs' linebacker, Derrick Thomas, has canceled the remainder of a $127,035 pledge to the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library because he resented all of the publicity about the unpaid amount. His spokeswoman maintained that the library had "harassed us constantly." The Kansas City Star had reported that Thomas, who earns about $4 million a year, had paid only $61,231.45 of the pledge he had made two years ago. The money was to have paid overdue fines for more than 4,000 children.
Eileen Fitzsimons is Development Editor, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, NY.