Library Endowment Bill

It's a challenge in Fund Raising 101. Campbell County Public Library has been extremely blessed over the years with good financial support from the county, so fund raising has been fairly minimal in recent years. However, the one to one match created by WY Statutes 18-7-201 through W.S. 18-7-205 is a challenge we cannot ignore. Matching the $295,000 creates an endowment fund of nearly $600,000. And when the state challenge reaches $2.3 million, CCPL will earn another $100,000. $700,000 cannot be ignored.

Why not, you ask? Why do we need an endowment? There are many reasons, primarily the boom and bust cycle in our county's economic history. The Library Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit group that provides the extras for the Library system that the county budget cannot provide. Do you remember the years when buying books and computers for the public library was not a priority? We do. The Library Foundation provided additional funding for those items. Currently The Foundation is a serious supporter of volunteer programs for both students and adults. It provides funding for additional staff training, public programs, and even some frivolous items that do not come out of your tax dollars.

Once the endowment is in place and earning interest money, it is the interest that The Foundation can use to enhance the goals of the library: maintain our professional workforce; provide the services required by our changing community's needs, and raise awareness of the diverse library opportunities.

Endowments are building blocks for the future. In this case we can even applaud the legislative effort to "bring bucks back" to Campbell County. Some of those tax dollars paid to the State are being funneled back to our county. Whoopee!

Wyoming has been endorsing "rainy day" funds for a long time now. July 1, 2008 begins the campaign for public libraries to earn endowment funding. Based on the recent efforts by the junior college system, public libraries across the state will be working separately and together to create some stablility for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This is a noteworthy event for all librarians -- all library users -- and even those of you who appreciate the concepts of free access to public information, books, knowledge, education.

Please join the Library Endowment Challenge by thinking of a monthly donation, an annual donation, an occasional donation, no matter the size. Right now I am focusing on increments of $10,000. That's do-able, isn't it? I would love to be able to start the Endowment Challenge with $10,000 donated on July 1 -- not before. It doesn't count if a check is dated or deposited before July 1.

How many of you can donate $5 or $500 on July 1? Oh, yes. I'll take anything in-between -- anything larger and anything smaller. Hmmm. That does sound fairly greedy. But it's not for me. It's for your grandchildren.

If you want more information about the Endowment Challenge, just call Patty at 687 -9201.