Keywords
Citation
Fitzsimmons, E. (1999), "Slow but sure fundraisers", The Bottom Line, Vol. 12 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.1999.17012aab.010
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Slow but sure fundraisers
Slow but sure fundraisers
Keywords: Fundraising, Libraries, USA
Libraries are ever finding new ways to raise needed funds. For example, the $12 million Anna Ashcraft Ensor Learning Resource Center at Georgetown (KY) College was paid for with $10 donations. The campaign follows the pattern of the fundraisers for their chapel, which over 50 years ago was financed in $1 increments.
Supporters of the Harvard (IL) Public Library believe strongly that a penny saved is a penny earned. To increase voter supports for a $2 million capital bond issue on the November 3 ballot, they decided to gather $10,000 in earnest money from the community's schoolchildren all in pennies. They plan to replace the 90-year old building that still serves as the library with a 19,000-square-foot complex.
When Marcia Hanford of Glendale, California, celebrated her 50th birthday, she asked each of her guests to bring 50 coins of any denomination in lieu of a present. She then brought a suitcase to the Glendale Public Library with $600+ in coins, which she donated to the library's literacy program.
The Library of Congress has an angle on raising funds that no other library has. President Clinton signed legislation on October 21 authorizing the US Mint to issue commemorative coins marking the Library of Congress's bicentennial in the year 2000, including the nation's first bimetallic coin (gold and platinum).
The mint will issue up to 500,000 one-dollar silver coins (with a surcharge of up to $5), with the option of up to 200,000 $10 bimetallic coins (with a surcharge of up to $50) or up to 100,000 $5 gold coins (with a surcharge of up to $35). The proceeds will be used to support initiatives at LC.