Friends are: Advocates for the Library! Fundraisers! Community - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Friends are:

• Advocates for the Library!
• Fundraisers!
• Community Cheerleaders!

• Great Communication
• It’s a two way street
• Attend meetings and invite a Friends liaison to

Board Meetings

• Mutual Respect
• The Friends work hard for the money
• The Director knows best about library priorities
• Sharing the Future with Your Friends
• Let the Friends know every year what the library’s

challenges and opportunities will be

• Misunderstanding about Roles
• Friends don’t make purchasing decisions
• Friends don’t make or dispute library policy
• Friends hold community donations in trust for the

library: It’s not THEIR money

• Friends Spending on Other Organizations
• Should only happen when library concurs (literacy

initiatives, for example)

• Breach of trust with donors who think their money

will support the library!

• Saving “Their” Money for a Rainy Day
• It’s pouring outside!
• Donors want their donations spent on the library,

not keeping a checking account richly padded

• “Need” is a strong motivator for fundraising

• One or More Friends’ Leaders Doesn’t like the

Director or has other Personal Beef

• If the Friends can’t/don’t want to support the

library including the director, it’s time for these folks to move on – they’re no longer Friends

• No one member of the Friends board has more

authority than any other board member

• Be a Friend – join the group – checkbook

member only!

• Give the Friends and their gifts LOTS of

publicity and grateful acknowledgement.

• Provide Friends with a prioritized wish list –

based on the annual Friends talk about the library’s future challenges and opportunities

• Attend their events.

• Be brave, open a discussion with the Friends

Board about your relationship

• You don’t have to do it alone, invite a “friendly”

Trustee

• Center the discussion on your mutual priority - the

library

• Use a “neutral” facilitator – one not aligned with

either group – but discuss problems with him/her in advance

• Develop Mutual Working Documents for

Operating Together in the Future

• Memorandum of Understanding
• Library’s commitment to supporting Friends
• Guidelines for giving
• The role of the Friends board

• With Friends Like These
• Potentially hurt library’s reputation
• Keeping a high functioning group from being

established because they hold the name “Friends”

• Loss of funding for library programs and services

• Time to take back your good name.
• The library’s reputation is its greatest asset
• It’s the responsibility of the library board (if

governing) or the library’s governing body (city/county council, mayor, city manager) to ensure that the library’s reputation is not damaged or potentially damages by dysfunctional Friends.

• Letter from Proper Library Governing

Authority to Friends President:

• Thank you for past support
• Efforts towards a solution aren’t working
• You may no longer use the library’s name in

fundraising.

• Letter to the editor making the same points

above: do not use personal names, be polite, be optimistic – “we’re hoping this move will allow a new Friends group to emerge!”

• The Role of the Friends Board:

http://www.ala.org/united/sites/ala.org.united/files/ content/friends/factsheets/unitedfactsheet10.pdf

• Guidelines for Giving:

http://www.ala.org/united/sites/ala.org.united/files/ content/friends/factsheets/unitedfactsheet22.pdf

• Sample Memorandum of Understanding:

http://www.ala.org/united/sites/ala.org.united/files/ content/friends/factsheets/unitedfactsheet25.pdf

• Library Support for Friends Activities:

http://www.ala.org/united/sites/ala.org.united/files/ content/friends/factsheets/unitedfactsheet26.pdf

• When Friends Aren’t Friendly:

http://www.ala.org/united/sites/ala.org.united/files/ content/friends/factsheets/unitedfactsheet27.pdf

Available Jan. 2017 Order at www.alastore.ala.org

• Provides guidance for developing a Friends group

for public and academic libraries;

• Explains how to merge a Friends group with a

Foundation;

• Gives pointers on encouraging Friends to attract

new and active members, working with the Friends board to develop leadership skills, and

• ther crucial partnership strategies;
• Addresses the sticky situation of “unfriendly”

Friends, with sage advice on handling Friends who seem unmotivated when it comes to fundraising or advocacy, are uncommunicative,

• verstep their bounds, and other difficult issues;

and

• Shares fundraising, advocacy, programs, and

membership development best practices from Friends groups across the country.

Sally Reed Executive Director sreed@ala.org Beth Nawalinski Deputy Executive Director bnawalinski@ala.org Jillian Wentworth Marketing/PR Specialist jwentworth@ala.org www.ala.org/united united@ala.org (800) 545-2433, ext. 2161