Library Campaign Update

It's been a while since I've posted an update, but there have been many things going on behind the scenes here.

The festival, "Fall into Fun," is clicking right along and we hope to have some announcements about our exciting TEEN AREA(!!) next week. We are very excited about this particular part of the festival, as we have not seen other area festivals devote so much to that age group. Check back here a week from today and hopefully you'll see some information on that.

Our festival logo has been designed by the graphics department at The Lancaster News:

Many thanks to the graphics people for their work on this logo! If I can figure out how to put that at the top of this blog as a permanent item, I'll do that.

Groups working on food vendors, children's area crafters, artists and businesses, will begin sending out letters and contacting people to see if they'd like to have space at the festival. Sun City is going to send an announcement out to their "lead list," inviting them to come that day to see Sun City and attend the festival. I can't remember if Brooke said there are 3,500 people on the list or 35,000 people on the list!

Another group, the Capital Campaign Steering Committee, has been meeting about every other week and is working diligently to identify larger donors. So far we have worked up a list of 2 or 3 dozen corporations we'd like to contact. Some will be contacted personally by people we determine will be the best "askers," and others are foundation grants we will work on. In our next meeting we'll begin discussing individuals we'd like to talk to. We are also working up a campaign portfolio right now that we can use when we go on these visits. Chris McGinn and Richard Band are working together on that, and we hope to have that pretty much done in another week or so.

The buzz about the library is growing and with it has come some actual, casual mention of donations. We have not seen checks being written yet, but it is time to explain how to give to the library. Here is a run-down of how that works:

To make a donation to the Capital Campaign, make your gift payable to Lancaster County Library, 313 S. White St., Lancaster SC 29720. Designate “Del Webb Library” on your check.. As a governmental entity, the library is tax exempt and all monetary donations to the library are fully tax deductible.

Some donor organizations require recipients to have 501(c) (3) nonprofit status with the Internal Revenue Service. In this case, checks may be made payable to the Friends of the Lancaster County Library in care of the library. The Friends is a 501(c) (3) charitable corporation.

Either way, your gift will be used entirely for expenses related to the building, books and furnishings of the Del Webb Library at Indian Land.

The steering committee is working on a list of specific items that businesses and individuals can sponsor in support of the library. The list will include everything from an entire room, to a bookshelf, to a book. Once we have that, we'll print that list and have pledge cards a available. I will also research ways to make it possible to donate online. AND I'll figure out how to put this "How to Donate" document online so that it can be downloaded from a link on the side.

One area of the funding that we have not really worked on, but it's been percolating in the background, is the county. So far the county has not stepped up to the plate at all with money. This is a travesty, as far as I'm concerned (a personal opinion, of course, but one that is shared by many). There have been NO public libraries EVER built in the State of South Carolina without some commitment by local government. In fact, the remodeling of our own dear Kershaw Branch Library a few years ago (97?) was funded more than a third by county funds. We will begin exploring this in the months to come.

That's it for today! It's an exciting time for this library board member! Things are starting to gel!