Mutually assured survival: library fund-raising strategies in a changing economy

Library Trends, Summer, 2003 by Lisa Browar, Samuel A. Streit

The vision that will protect library collections and services from erosion is one that grows its funding bases through careful planning, fund management, and diversification. Just as shrewd investors build and maintain diversified investment portfolios, never depending on a single investment for both growth and income, so should a library's fund-raising plan strive for similar diversification. No fund-raising strategy should ever depend exclusively upon one or even a few select donors to achieve fund-raising goals.

This long-term vision is likewise predicated on librarians and their development officers becoming more conversant with the nonprofit sector and the philanthropic environment in which their organizations attempt to raise money. It is also dependent on the ability to take the long view. The creation and implementation of long-term rather than immediate fundraising objectives holds the key to institutional solvency and survival.

In order to devise long-term effective fund-raising strategies it is now incumbent upon librarians to acquire financial skills and political aptitude by submerging themselves in areas of expertise that were previously thought to reside outside their spheres of interest or influence. Librarians must understand why the fortunes of the nonprofit sector are linked to those of the government and corporate sectors, and how their own institutional fortunes are thus affected. Awareness that the realities of a market economy can and do influence the nonprofit sector in ways that eventually impinge upon philanthropists and their support of educational and cultural institutions, including libraries, is a first step to understanding the need for long-term strategies.

It is essential for librarians to learn that they can influence philanthropic behavior the same way development officers do by matching programmatic needs to the categories that most frequently attract external financial support. But in order to be successful, librarians wishing to become fund-raisers must build up their knowledge base and become as comfortable discussing investment strategies, market fluctuations, and nonprofit management as they are explaining the intricacies of electronic databases. Additionally, they must be able to approach donor constituency building in a comprehensive manner that simultaneously connects their organizational missions to public relations campaigns while relating the philanthropic community's interest and financial resources to their libraries through fund-raising. Finally, they must be able to capture the attention of potential donors and philanthropists at a time when competition for the diminished philanthropic dollar is stronger than ever. Whether they realize it or not, librarians have the capacity to persuade donors to make long-term investments in their programs in the same ways that investment counselors advise clients on matters of personal finance. In short, librarians must learn to think like entrepreneurs and strategists, like investment bankers with one eye on the bottom line and the other on the horizon.