Positioning your library for funding success

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Positioning your library for funding success

• Ann Andrusyszyn, Development Officer, Barrie
  Public Library
• Rob Lavery CFRE, Resource Development Consultant,
  Southern Ontario Library Service

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Positioning your library for funding success

• Session Outline
• Diversifying funding sources
• Options
• Ways to raise revenue from these source
• Most common strengths and weaknesses
• What are libraries doing?
• Trends
• Barrie Public Library experience
• Making decisions

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Sources of revenue for Charities

• Government
• Earned income
• Foundations and Corporations
• Individuals

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Sources of revenue for Charities

• Government 60
• Earned income 26
• Private Giving 14
• Foundations and Corporations 20
• Individuals 80
• Over 5 billion!

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Fun with numbers!

• For more information on charitable giving and
  volunteering, go to
• www.givingandvolunteering.ca
• Statistics from the National Survey on Giving,
  Volunteering and Participating
• Fact sheets
• Manuals
• Reports

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Sources of Revenue

• Government
• base funding
• special funding
• gaming and lottery

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Sources of Revenue

• Foundations
• private
• corporate
• community
• special purpose

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Sources of Revenue

• Corporate
• donations
• marketing-driven sponsorships
• in-kind goods and services
• employee campaigns
• matching funds
• joint promotions
• secondments

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Sources of Revenue

• Individuals
• person to person asks
• direct mail
• special events
• door to door canvassing
• telephone canvass
• major donations, or large specially-named gifts
• planned gifts - bequests, insurance
• memorial, celebration cards
• response to paid ads or PSAs

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Most common methods

• Special Events - strengths
• the most common way to raise money - competition
• donor loyalty, volunteer motivation, fun
• profile in community
• prospect and first time donors
• forum for education
• sponsorship opportunities
• volunteer and leadership recruitment

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Most common methods

• Special Events weaknesses
• very resource heavy time and energy
• high risk
• lots of planning
• sales dependent
• cost-effectiveness increases over time

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Most common methods

• Direct Mail - strengths
• lots of smaller donations
• cost-effective over time, and numbers,
  acquisition expensive
• can be very scientific/mathematical good
  reporting, becomes more personal
• very predictable, trackable, repeatable
• good demographic for libraries

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Most common methods

• Direct Mail - weaknesses
• increasingly competitive
• contracted services investment capital
• perceived as impersonal
• losing audience

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Most common methods

• Major Gifts strengths and weaknesses
• assumes active, mature FR program
• assumes personal visits and peer solicitations
• little or no start-up, very cost-effective
• good stewardship of donors and involvement of
  volunteers
• very successful
• long-term relationship building with donors
• reliance on volunteers (competition for
  volunteers with influence and affluence, need for
  many)

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Fundraising Trends in Ontario Libraries

• Or,
• The world according to Rob

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Library Trends

• Shift from volunteer to staff
• Creating staff positions, or partial positions
  responsible for fundraising or development
• Hiring from outside the library, for special
  expertise
• Resourcing the program
• Donor management software
• Contracted services especially for mail
  programs and capital campaigns

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Library Trends

• Incorporating communications with fundraising
• Libraries as charities
• Building philanthropy
• Raising awareness about the library through
  newsletters that have fundraising messages
• Raising awareness about the library through
  events

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Library Trends

• Planning for fundraising
• Isolated incidents to long range strategies
• Friends, Foundations, Boards, staff working
  together
• Move into mail programs
• Small and large libraries
• Use of patron database

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Barrie Public LibraryDeveloping Resource
Development

• Capital Campaign for the current library
• No real history of donors/gifts
• Outside help for campaign
• Positive outcomes
• Resource Development staff
• What prompted the decision?
• Special expertise

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BPL Development Establishing priorities

• Starting a programme
• Board supportive of what is needed to start
• Basics put in place
• Policies procedures
• Donor software
• Planned Giving
• Started simply with bequests
• Added more as the programme grew
• Coupled with Major Gifts

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BPL Development Shifting priorities

• Changing needs
• Changing staff
• Reassessment by Board and Director
• Decision to work towards an integrated programme
• Planned Giving and Major Gifts onto back burner
  (already established)
• Start to put lower levels into place in
  fundraising programme

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BPL Development Change in Focus

• Focus shifted to annual fundraising programme
• Library has ongoing needs
• Outgrown current facility
• How do we best articulate that?
• community partnerships
• positioning in community
• awareness
• high profile event for both fundraising and
  awareness

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BPL DevelopmentSpecific intent

• Barrie Public Library made a conscious decision
• to go with a dedicated staff position
• to bring in special expertise
• to commit to development
• not to set up a parallel Foundation

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BPL Currently

• Build community relationships
• First annual direct mail campaign
• build a donor base
• raise awareness
• educate our public that were a registered
  charity
• how did we create it?
• Marketing to articulate needs
• to public
• to City Council

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BPL Future

• Following our Strategic Plan
• Working towards capital campaign for branch
• Integrated fundraising programme
• Progression of donors

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BPL How are we reaching our goals?

• Took first small steps
• Initial decision
• Gradual progression
• Grow accordingly
• Planning
• Donor software
• Strategic plan
• Privacy/confidentiality
• Board on board!
• Encourage growth dont stifle it

• Use volunteers
• Library specific
• Special event
• Engage our public
• Build on previous successes
• Create excitement
• the place to be!
• Stay focused
• Become essential
• strong community partner
• Good City partner

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• Essentially, we are reaching our goals by
  carrying out our mission
• Enriching the economic, social and cultural
  vitality of our community by opening doors to
  lifelong learning

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Making decisions

• Where do you start?
• Who is doing what now?
• Knowing your options
• Spending to make

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Who will do the work?

• Who is doing what now?
• Friends
• Fundraising Committee
• Foundation
• Board
• Staff
• Community Foundation

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Who will do the work?

• What is working?
• Events book sales, dinners, dances
• Canvass
• Adoption, memorial

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Who will do the work?

• Can you work better together?
• What can you add to your FR program that makes
  sense?

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Knowing your options

• Assessing your activities
• What structure will work for us?
• Are we communicating?
• Are we planning?
• Assessing who is doing what?
• Are we making the best use of the people we have
  their talents and connections?

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It takes to make

• How are we resourcing the fundraising activity?
• Can we access specialists to help us?
• Are there educational, development opportunities?

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Starting Point

• Stop talking about it, and start doing it!
• Capitalize on leaders enthusiasm and leave the
  nay-sayers behind!
• Capitalize on existing programs and expand, add
  grow

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Starting Point

• Choose a program, and plan it out learn from
  your experience
• Access professionals in your community
• ASK!

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Questions Answers

• Ann
• aandrusyszyn_at_city.barrie.on.ca
• Rob
• rlavery_at_sols.org