Five years ago, the Seattle Public Library Foundation established Library Giving Day as a way to drum up donor interest in library causes during the oftentimes slow spring months. It is scheduled to coincide with, or be in close proximity to, National Library Week. Last year alone netted $1,600,000 across 87 reporting participants – not bad for fundraising's traditional “slow” season.

RaiseMN could be described as a fundraising bootcamp in which small- and medium-sized nonprofits receive seven months of personal coaching and peer learning opportunities.  

Every public library in Minnesota benefits from State funds earmarked for interlibrary loan service (ILL), online database access, and special programming featuring authors and educators. These are just three of a dozen ways in which state dollars impact local library service. Crucial services like these are easy to take for granted - but we do so at our own peril. With that in mind, the Minnesota Library Association maintains a standing Legislative Committee. 

If you’re subscribed to MALF newsletter, it’s safe to assume you’re a Friend of the Library. From there, it’s not much of a stretch to surmise that you’re a book-lover, too!

If you are a volunteer or staff member attached to a school library, the national nonprofit We Need Diverse Books has a time-sensitive materials opportunity just for you. Books Save Lives is a grant program allocating up to $10,000 for a school media center to purchase diverse titles to augment existing collections.

Great Stories Club’s “raison d'être” is to give underserved youth the opportunity to read, reflect, and share ideas on topics that resonate with them. Courtesy of funding support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the popular program has reached more than 700 libraries – and more than 30,000 young adults – to date.

The Minnesota Association of Library Friends is moving offices, effective February 6! Please save our new address: 332 Minnesota Street, Suite W1420, Saint Paul, MN, 55101.

Last year, MALF’s programming reached more people than ever before. We’re eager to keep pace in 2023, but can only do so with YOUR help!

Friends of the Library are resilient, versatile, and endlessly creative. Sometimes, we don’t give ourselves enough credit! That’s one of the reasons that MALF proudly hosts the annual Evy Nordley Award for Best Project by Friends of the Library – the longest-running state-level prize of this kind.

The Peggy Barber Tribute Grant awards $2,500 to three libraries to support their programming efforts. Competitiveness is determined in large part by a candidate’s ability to demonstrate an acute financial need (and, as a result, a general track record of under-funded programming).

Thanks to everyone who joined MALF last week for our last webinar of the year – and most experimental webinar ever. Special gratitude goes to our guest speakers, Alison Aten and Riley Jo Davis (Minnesota Historical Press) and Ill Nippashi (Graywolf Press), for leading us off with a sneak peek at their impressive winter/spring catalogs.

Happy #GivingTuesday! If your Friends of the Library are running a campaign in conjunction with the nation’s unofficial “giving holiday,” we wish you well. But if you missed out on November’s prime giving holidays (Giving…