Fundraising for Your Library: Learn How to Direct Your Focus

Fundraising is crucial for maintaining and expanding library services, enhancing facilities, and introducing new programs. However, to continue serving our communities effectively, libraries need robust financial support. This blog dives deep into the purpose and process of conducting a development audit and assessment to understand how to strengthen your library’s fundraising efforts. By examining key areas such as volunteer leadership, donor relationships, and strategic planning, you can identify opportunities for growth and ensure your library thrives for years to come.

Purpose

The purpose of a development audit and assessment is to be able to take a quick pulse on the state of your leadership, volunteers and current development practices for your library.

How to use it

There are many ways to audit your current activities. Here is one way that libraries specifically can audit their activities to begin understanding their opportunity areas. Is there low hanging fruit that can be accomplished? What are more longer term needs?

Volunteer Leadership 

• Do most of the board members regularly attend meetings, retreats, and special events? Are the board members considered involved and participatory? 
• Are most of your board members well-versed in the library’s history, mission, challenges, and plans for the future? 
• Are your board members interested in your mission and are articulate spokespersons for the organization and its fundraising efforts? If you answered no to the three questions above, it may be time to revisit your terms and revisit if it’s time to make a change to your board.
• Do all of your board members participate in your Annual Giving Program or fundraising as a tangible indication of good volunteer leadership? Many people that serve on boards believe that Board members only need to give of their time. But, it’s important that your Board members are able to give their time, talent, and treasure.
• Are any of your board leaders comfortable soliciting financial support?  If yes, how many? Do any board members have experience personally soliciting donors for investment into the mission? Truly, all Board members should be comfortable with either connecting you to prospective donors or helping with the actual solicitation of a current or prospective donor.
• What type of solicitation has been completed in the last three years? If you answered none to this question, then the sky's the limit. 
• How much would you like to see your annual solicitation increase or opportunities for future projects/endowment giving? If you’re unsure the answer to this question, a good goal is to increase 10-15% from the previous year.
• Are board members able and willing to direct time to fundraising initiatives such as strategic planning? If you don’t have a strategic plan, it’s important to take the initial steps to begin the process. When you have a strategic plan, it helps you more effectively raise money because your plan has been vetted and solidified for the future of your library.

If your answers were more no’s than yes’s, we recommend that you focus on your volunteer leadership and engagement. 

Friends of the Public Library

• Do you have a Friends group? It’s not imperative that you have a Friends group, however it is another dedicated group that can help support your fundraising efforts.
• Does your Friends group fundraise? If your Friends group does not fundraise, it is a great opportunity to ask if they’d consider fundraising. Even starting with a $5,000 goal would be great to begin to develop relationships with community members. Then, you can increase that goal each year to help support various programs and services.
• If yes, does the Friends of the Library fundraising efforts support operating or special needs of your budget? If your Friends group only supports operating versus special programs, or vice versa, consider asking your Friends to expand their support to fulfill a specific need. Be sure to quantify what that need is and identify how many more people will be served as a result of fulfilling that need.
• What types of fundraising activities do they plan? After you create this list, be sure to include the total amount raised for each event. If there are events that don’t raise as much money, you could consider shifting to focusing on building more major gifts relationships.
• Do you wish you could raise more money? We don’t often hear from Friends organizations that don’t wish they could raise more money. If you do want to raise more money. First, determine your largest need, then attach costs associated with that need and lastly, explain that need in a short narrative that can be used to help solicit donations to fulfill your need.
• What are the biggest challenges of your Friends group? What are the biggest opportunity areas of your Friends group? The above two questions help you to focus on the realities of your Friends group. What are the priority areas that need focus?

Donors, Relationships and Funds

• Do you regularly meet with key donors to share important news and successes regarding your organizational goals?  If so, which persons come to mind who may be able to provide the most considerable financial resources to a project or future fundraising efforts? We recommend checking in at least monthly or bi-monthly with your key donors. Remember this important fundamental of fundraising, if you ask for money, you will get advice, if you ask for advice, you may receive money. Be sure that you’re calling your key donors and sharing information about the library but you’re also calling them periodically to ask for their advice. If you’re able to engage with your key donors and ask for advice, they will continue to be more involved and interested in your library.
• Have you identified and qualified 1 to 10 prospects who are capable of making a lead gift of about $5,000, $10,000, or more to your fundraising efforts? For some libraries, a major or lead gift is $500, so this may take some work identifying a major donor. You can increase the chances of identifying a key donor by organizing an advisory committee that may meet twice to help brainstorm potential people that could be a key donor. Make sure the people that are a part of your committee are of influence and affluence. 
• Have you experienced any negative public relations through newspaper articles or other communication avenues in the last three years? Have you had a positive presence in the area news? How would you like to see your relationship with area media improved? Please reflect on the perception of your donors and members regarding your organization. This series of questions aim to take a snapshot at your library’s current public relations and brand perception.
• Is your website engaging and accurate in regard to your mission, values, and organizational goals? One of the most overlooked aspects of maintaining your brand and visual identity is your website. Oftentimes due to role changes, your website is consistently updated but it no longer has a cohesive and easily understood user experience because of the sheer volume of information.
• Has the organization reached or surpassed fundraising goals in the last few years? Raising money depends on building confidence and momentum. If you have experienced failed fundraising projects or campaigns, it’s important to take note of your learnings and begin again with fundamental fundraising principles like those mentioned in this audit. 
• How do you communicate with your donors? Namely a face-to-Face meeting with the Director, key staff, or a volunteer board member, event-driven, personal contact. It is recommended that in most situations you meet and engage with your donors face-to-face. In all prospect and donor interactions, it’s important to ask yourself how you can make the interaction more personal. 
• Describe your current relationships with donors. What steps has your organization taken to cultivate lead donors? What is the current climate and fundraising environment for your library? These three questions help you to see at a high level the current circumstances of fundraising for your library. 

If your answers were mostly no’s, now is the time to focus on donors, relationships, and funds. 

Planning and Case Statement Assessment

• Do you feel the organization’s mission statement accurately describes your organization? Have you ever developed a detailed and thorough Case Statement of your organization that states your history, goals, financial picture, strategic plans, and future as a comprehensive backdrop to express to donors in the past? The goal of theses questions is to make sure your brand and story are consistent for your library. See this past blog to learn more about the importance of a case statement.
• Do you feel you have a well-defined and executed public relations and communications plan? If you’re not sharing with your community all of the wonderful things your library is doing, it will be even more challenging to fundraise to further expand your programs and services for your library cardholders.
• Do you have passionate leaders who have a consensus regarding your fundraising goals and objectives? This is where the idea of an advisory committee comes into play. Creating a brief role description and follow up plan of meeting two to three times can help guide your fundraising efforts.

Staff and Systems

• Are any staff personally comfortable and interested in assisting with fundraising efforts? Spreading the leadership early and often is very important to ensure that more than one to two people are helping to support fundraising for your library.
• Have senior executive staff made a financial contribution in the last year? Before any solicitation of others, it’s very important that the solicitor themselves has given to the project, regardless of the size.
• Do you provide opportunities for training the board for your development effort? Considering a brief training once or multiple times a year helps your board to see the value and also the feasibility of accomplishing fundraising goals for your library.
• Does your board tangibly support your development efforts? Every single board member should give a gift to your library each year. This fact also shouldn’t be a secret. You can share within your case statement or even ask letters of other donors that you have 100% board participation in your fundraising project. It goes a long way to building confidence and momentum.
• Does your donor database system provide the ability to effectively record donor cultivation in addition to regular contributions and pledges? Keeping track of donor communications and next steps is very important to the overall success of your project.
• Please list the three most positive opportunities you feel are evident to fundraise for your organization.
  Please list the three most challenging fundraising circumstances you believe you are facing at this time. These two questions provide an important high-level view of the status of your fundraising activities.  
• Are there details that you believe are important to be considered that would be considered controversial to your project? If you do have a controversial aspect of your fundraising project, it’s important to determine with your board if it will interfere with the success of your project. If it will not, it’s important to address issues about the project head on. Meet with those that disagree to understand their point of view, listen intently and then create communications that address concerns raised.

Understanding and Importance of the Mission of Public Libraries

• What are your library's largest fundraising challenges or gaps that fundraising would help you overcome or fulfill? Describing your needs in a simple way with dollar amount needs attached to each item, will help you be able to clearly articulate the need as well as help donors see how they can tangibly meet your library’s needs.
• What do you see are the biggest needs requiring financial support this year, in 3 years and 5 years and 10 years? It’s so important to have both a short and long term vision of the needs of your library.
• Is your city council generally supportive of the library? If you are a municipal library, it is absolutely imperative that your city helps to contribute to your project, regardless of the size. If your city does contribute it builds a lot of confidence early on in the project. 
• Is the community supportive of the library? Does the community understand libraries are still valid in today's society or could you do more for this awareness to be understood? Stats and data can help your community see that likely your library is very heavily used with daily visits, increase in visitor count, programming attendance, and the number of programming events, for example.

If you’re not able to answer these questions, taking some dedicated time to brainstorm and strategize the future of your library will help tremendously when it comes to communicate your needs and why your needs exist. 

Effective fundraising is essential for the sustainability and growth of libraries, ensuring they can continue to offer vital services and programs to the community. By conducting a thorough development audit and assessment, you can gain valuable insights into your current fundraising practices and identify areas for improvement. Engaging your board members, volunteers, and Friends group, while nurturing donor relationships and strategic planning, can significantly enhance your fundraising efforts. 

As you implement these strategies, you’ll be better equipped to meet your library’s financial needs and continue providing exceptional resources and support to your community. Remember, a well-supported library is a thriving library. Start your development audit today and pave the way for a brighter future for your library and its patrons.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to complete your library’s audit, email Brianna at brianna@fundraising for libraries.