Fundraisers R Us: One Small Library's Victory over Inadequate Municipal Funding

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I read Steve Coffman's article "Saving Ourselves: Plural Funding for Public Libraries" (AL, Feb. 2004, p. 37-39) with great interest. Four years ago, when I became director of the Osterville (Mass.) Free Library on Cape Cod, I joined the staff of a successful library and a well-oiled fundraising machine. Over the course of the past 30 years, the Osterville Library's board of trustees and the various library directors have experimented with and perfected a series of fundraising events and practices that bring in $225,000 annually above and beyond our municipal funding.

To accomplish this, each year the library holds two golf tournaments, a weeklong "Summer Celebration," a car raffle, and two auctions. On a daily basis, Osterville sells used books, T-shirts, and art prints. Seasonally, the library has sold bread mixes ("Raise a little dough"), soup mixes ("Support our Souper Library"), and preserves ("Jam'in at the Osterville Library"). It also mails a successful annual appeal letter.

There are benefits and drawbacks to depending on fundraising events for operating …