Citizens Library launches sustainability plan
Citizens Library Executive Director Diane Ambrose, right, points out President Ulysses S. Grant to Kathy Pienkowski, circulation services manager. The image is from the dedication of the cornerstone for Washington’s first town hall, the home to Washington’s library, in 1869. A campaign for sustainable funding draws on the library’s history to take the library into the future.
A sign in front of the Washington County Courthouse around 1964 asked for the community to contribute to the construction of a new library. Citizens Library was built in 1965.
The launching of Citizens Library’s strategic vision, “21st Century Cornerstone Legacy Plan” signifies the fourth major event in the library’s lengthy history, including the formation of Washington’s first library in 1811, the founding and funding of Citizens by Dr. Francis LeMoyne in the new town hall in 1870, and construction of the current library in 1965.
The plan, developed by Citizens Executive Director Diane Ambrose and board of directors President David Franz, includes three goals – sustaining the library’s future, fully funding the library staff and enhancing services for Washington-area residents.
“We’re building on history,” said Ambrose.
“We want to keep offering services, but it’s hard to do that if we can’t keep the lights on and serve people,” added Franz.
The library in Washington, which has 20,000 active card holders, operates on about $700,000 yearly. The board has been using money from unrestricted investments for daily operations and fear that continuous depletion will lead to serious cuts in services and staff.
Municipal contributions continue to be an unpredictable source of funding.
Residents of East Washington collected $3,000 to be given to the library as the borough’s yearly endowment after council cut funding from $5,000 to nothing early this year. McGuffey School District recently decreased its contribution from $19,000 to $10,000 amidst staff cuts. Other municipalities that have reduced funding since 2013 include Canton, North Franklin and South Strabane townships.
Trinity Area School District eliminated funding in 2014, thereby losing board representation.
Citizens’ revenue is comprised of 35 percent state aid – which has been level since 2003 – 12 percent municipal support, three percent county aid and 64 percent from other sources, including funds raised by Friends of Citizens Library.
Kathy Pienkowski, circulation services manager and campaign coordinator, said continued contributions from municipalities – which are dealing with decreased tax bases and infrastructure demands – are vital.
“We still provide services to the residents and the schools even if they don’t contribute,” Pienkowski said.
The campaign does not replace municipal contributions, but reaching campaign goals will allow the board to stop drawing on investments.
Martin P. Beichner Jr., president and chief executive officer of Southpointe manufacturer AccuTrex Products, was appointed as chairman of a citizens advisory panel that will guide the campaign for major donors.
“This strategic vision renews the entrepreneurial spirit that helped form the library’s cornerstones during our first 206 years, and now requires us to seek and secure communitywide support for a sustainable future,” Beichner said in a press release.
The two aspects of the fundraising initiative include building endowments and sustaining donors. The 21 advisory panel members, plus eight honorary members – residents, board members, business owners, local legislators and advocates – are tasked with securing private and public support.
The library’s core endowments are now at $1.5 million. Franz and Ambrose determined the endowment fund will need to reach $3 million by 2022 to sustain operation. To reach that goal, the advisory panel will encourage estate planners and attorneys to discuss the Citizens endowment fund as a beneficiary with their clients.
The endowment would not be used for daily operations, but with $3 million in reserves, the five percent interest – $150,000 – would be used for daily operations, helping to bridge the funding gap.
The second part is the Cornerstone Legacy Society Membership, an annual giving campaign seeking private and public support to augment daily operations. Membership will be granted to those meeting one of six giving levels, from $500. The goal is to collect enough membership to use $100,000 per year for operating costs for the next five years.
A reception for charter members will be held at the library on Nov. 9, by invitation.
“We need sustainable funding,” Ambrose said. “We feel like fundraising and implementing the Legacy plan will achieve that.”
Citizens not only acts as the local library for Washington-area residents, but as the headquarters as one of the state’s 29 district libraries. In that role, the library encompasses the public libraries in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties. The library is also the office for the Washington County Library Systems, which serves 14 local libraries.
“This campaign is to fund the local Citizens Library only, but when you strengthen the local library, it strengthens the district and the system,” said Ambrose.