Re: [Michlib-l] Libraries with 501(c)(3) status
Hello Rebecca, I have been working on such a thing for the past 2 years. To my understanding, the library itself cannot be a 501(c)3. Please see this summary: " Public libraries that are government agencies can receive donations, and they are tax-deductible for donors, so the question is, should your Friends or foundation become a 501(c)(3)?" Hence a library CANNOT be a 501(c)3, rather they can have a Friends or Foundation that is a 501(c)3 and provides the library with additional financial support. http://librarystrategiesconsulting.org/2017/09/should-we-be-a-501c3/ They are then legally and financially separate from the library. This can have positives and negatives. My library already has a Friends group that has been operating long before my 6 years here. They are excellent. They have all the requisite paperwork in place and used a lawyer to help them set it up years ago. There is a board with monthly meetings and a treasurer, who happens to be an accountant, who handles all the money and the annual tax returns. The library cannot tell them what to do, since they are legally separate. They choose to give us money and approve what we use it for. This year they gave us $35,000 and we use the money for programming, tech, and furniture - "enhancements" not in our operational budget which is funded by tax dollars and fines. We are in the process of also creating a 501(c)3 Foundation, with a different mission than the Friends group. The goal of the Foundation is specifically to raise $5 million, which will then be invested and the annual interest income will be given to the library to support our strategic plan initiatives (i.e. a building study, new study rooms, more solid funding for programming, staff and collections). 1. Did you pay an attorney? Yes, we interviewed 4 attorneys based on recommendations from other libraries or online reviews. There were surprisingly few attorneys in the Milwaukee area that specialized in setting up non-profits. Certainly, you could use any lawyer, not one who specializes. Another area library used an attorney to set up their fund after receiving a $5.5 Million bequest and the total bill was between $10k-20k. Bc the attorney can be very expensive, and we don't have that amount of money, we are writing the bylaws ourselves using other library foundation bylaws as an example. We will then run the final bylaws by the attorney with questions and have her file the official state paperwork and the IRS paperwork. Luckily we have an attorney on the Foundation Board and she has helped us hone things with a legal eye, though her area of expertise is not in establishing non-profits. We are hoping our total attorney costs will be under $5k. 2. Did you use free legal assistance? In my experience free "legal aid" doesn't do this sort of thing and as mentioned above we were not able to find a local lawyer willing to do it for free. It's still worth the effort to see if you can find an area attorney who will work with you for free or lower cost, or even get them to join the Board. 3. How long did the process take? Don't be scared off by my saying I have been working on it for two years. We created a very large, ambitious, strategic plan in 2016. In 2017 we started looking at what it would take to create the foundation, then create the investment fund at the area Community Foundation (i.e. the actual investment vehicle), etc. We interviewed attorneys this past Spring, then interviewed people for the Foundation Board, I started the Bylaws based on examples and have been sending them to the board members via email for feedback. We were delayed by a couple urgent big issues that came up and took my time away from the bylaws, and then I got a concussion which resulted in no work on it for 2 months. I am back at it with the goal of finishing the bylaws draft by the end of this month and completing the Foundation paperwork with the lawyer in the 1st quarter of 2020. I would imagine setting up a Friends group would be much easier time-wise. A full foundation for investment purposes is a little more work. 4. What are the pros in being a 501(c)(3)? Again a library itself is not allowed to be a 501(c)3. I think the more accurate question is what are the pros and cons of a library establishing a Friends group or a Foundation. The pros are you have people interested in raising money for your library and then giving you the money for library projects. They provide financial support beyond what the municipal tax base provides. They can organize and hold book sales or "wine tastings" as special events. Things that staff don't have the time to do. 5. Are there cons in being a 501(c)(3)? The cons to a Friends group or Foundation is that they may view the raised money as THEIRS. Their territory. And they may not approve you using it for what you wish, or they turn it into a fiefdom with feelings of power. I have seen very dysfunctional Friends and Foundations and have heard horror stories from other libraries. Thankfully my current Friends group has no drama or power issues. I am working very hard to set-up our coming Foundation so they raise the money, it goes directly into the investment fund, and then the interest income is passed to the library at the end of the year to "support the Library Board approved strategic plan initiatives." The Foundation will have no input in how the money is used and cannot say "no." Another con may be that your municipality may say: Oh, you have $5 million in your foundation so we can cut your budget... I have found that getting "only" $35k from our Friends group does not impact our municipal funding. When it comes up I explain that the Friends enable us to replace all of our furniture so we didn't have to make a capital request to the Village for it. With the goal of $5 million in a fund, potentially generating interest income of $250,000/year (fyi, our annual budget is $800,00 of which we get $700,000 in municipal taxes), we will protect the money by having donors specifically state what the money is for. i.e. strategic initiatives, not new carpeting or the electric bill. My advice is to figure out WHY you or someone else wants the library to be a 501c3 - or more accurately - why you want Friends or a Foundation to do fundraising for you and give you extra money. How much? $5,000 per year in book sales or $1 million for a building addition? Knowing your end goal will help you determine if it is worth it. I don't know that it'd be worth the effort for $1,000/yr. But maybe for $5k-10k/yr. Definitely for $35k-250k/yr. 6. Is your Friends group a 501(c)(3)? Yes 7. In retrospect, are you glad your library is a 501(c)(3)? Not applicable. 8. Is the ROI worth it? The ROI on our Friends is totally worth it. The pending ROI on a Foundation remains to be seen, but if we do not raise $5 Million and use it to solidify our funding base, then we will end up having to make major cuts in the future. Avoiding cuts, and potentially finding extra enhancement, makes it worth it to me. Best of luck on whatever path you take. Feel free to email or call me anytime to ask questions. And check out this article on how my neighboring library set-up and defined what their bequest will be used for (i.e. protecting it from calls to use it for operational expenses). PS I'm totally happy for them but jealous that they got a huge donation and I am working to raise that much. :-) https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northshore/news/shorewood/2019/11... Sincerely, Nyama Nyama Y. Reed Library Director N.Reed@WFBLibrary.org 414-755-6551 (direct line) Whitefish Bay Public Library 5420 North Marlborough Drive Whitefish Bay, WI 53217 414-964-4380 (main line) Our Mission The Whitefish Bay Public Library, as a cornerstone of the community, is dedicated to connecting people of all ages, inspiring a love of learning and providing easy access to ideas, information and resources. *Please be advised electronic mail becomes a "public record" as allowed under public record laws when sent or received as part of normal business processes. -----Original Message----- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2019 15:10:14 -0500 From: Rebecca Higgerson <rhiggerson@brandonlibrary.org> To: michlib-l@mcls.org Subject: [Michlib-l] Libraries with 501(c)(3) status Message-ID: <2681be5dfa69d01ea7f325312ecc4033@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" In our current Strategic Plan, we were asked to investigate 501(c)(3) status for our library. For those of you who have done this, I would appreciate getting some feedback: 1. Did you pay an attorney? 2. Did you use free legal assistance? 3. How long did the process take? 4. What are the pros in being a 501(c)(3)? 5. Are there cons in being a 501(c)(3)? 6. Is your Friends group a 501(c)(3)? 7. In retrospect, are you glad your library is a 501(c)(3)? 8. Is the ROI worth it? Thanks in advance! *Rebecca Higgerson* Director Brandon Twp Public Library 304 South Street Ortonville MI 48462 248-627-1474
27005 S. Milford Road ▪ South Lyon (248) 437-8800 ▪ www.lyon.lib.mi.us Monday-Thursday 10:00 am-9:00 pm Friday-Saturday 10:00 am-5:00 pm For Immediate Release: December 17, 2019 Contact: Katie Rothley, Marketing & Outreach Librarian Phone: 248-437-8800 ext. 618 Email: krothley@lyon.lib.mi.us Lyon Township Library to receive special reprint of the 1877 History of Oakland County as part of Oakland County bicentennial commemoration. Holly Teasdle and Cathy Cottone to receive reprint for the library. South Lyon, MI – Oakland County is celebrating its 200th birthday, in 2020. To kick-off Oakland County’s bicentennial celebrations, a special book presentation will be held at the Lyon Township Public Library (LTPL) in South Lyon, Michigan on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 at 6:30P.M. All are invited to attend! The book to be presented to LTPL’s Director, Holly Teasdle, and Genealogist, Cathy Cottone, is a reprint of the 1877 History of Oakland County , published by LH Everts in the 1870s. Along with the delivery of the book to LTPL’s collection, Oakland County Historical Commission’s Mr. Jim Craft will give an hour-long presentation. He will discuss Oakland County’s history, focusing more on the 1870s, but will also outline the usefulness of the book in historical research. Such a fount of information will be a benefit to the Lyon Township Library and the community, in its pursuit of uncovering and learning from its history, and enriching the lives of those with access to it for years to come. For more information, please contact Cathy Cottone at 248-437-8800 ext. 616 or email at ccottone@lyon.lib.mi.us.
27005 S. Milford Road ▪ South Lyon (248) 437-8800 ▪ www.lyon.lib.mi.us Monday-Thursday 10:00 am-9:00 pm Friday-Saturday 10:00 am-5:00 pm For Immediate Release: Contact: Katie Rothley, Marketing & Outreach Librarian Phone: 248-437-8800 ext. 618 Email: krothley@lyon.lib.mi.us Lyon Township Public Library to host Kathryn Remlinger, Ph.D., Monday, July 13, 2020 at 7 PM for a presentation on the history and development of English in Michigan's Upper Peninsula . July 9, 2020 South Lyon, MI – Lyon Township Public Library (LTPL) is pleased to announce that we are holding a live, virtual presentation with guest speaker, Kathryn Remlinger, Ph.D. Kathryn is a Professor of English in the Applied Linguistics program at Grand Valley State University; we are honored to host her and look forward to Monday! Please consider joining us to learn more about Michigan's diverse history and culture. To register to receive the Zoom link and attend, please visit LTPL's website [ https://lyon-lib.libcal.com/event/6773719 | here. ] Description of the event: In "Yooper Talk: The History and Development of a Dialect" Kathryn will discuss the social, political and linguistic history of English in the U.P. and explain how ideas about what it means to sound like a Yooper have emerged over time. In order to understand any dialect, we must understand its history: how the dialect has been developed, both consciously and unconsciously, by people and their everyday practices, beliefs, and values, as well as by the land and labor that shape not only the dialect but also the region. The history of a region is reflected in present-day life in many ways, from languages spoken, to economics, industries, politics, food, housing, literacy, religious practices, education, and land use. The history of a region is also a clue to the origins of the vocabulary, sounds, and grammar of that area’s dialect. Understanding the history of a given place can help us to understand language use by showing us which languages have come into contact as people have migrated, settled, mixed, and mingled in a particular area. From this perspective, dialect is something affected by history and different languages coming into contact, as well as something that individuals constantly create through their everyday interactions and experiences. Thus, a dialect is a result of historical, linguistic, economic, geographic, ideological, and cultural processes that come together to define it, but also to define the region in which it is spoken. Significant factors in these processes include historical events, immigration, settlement patterns, and local economies. These factors not only shape a dialect but also affect individuals’ perceptions about it and attitudes toward its speakers, and these, too, are affected by the history of a region. This presentation will demonstrate how the social and political history of the Upper Peninsula is reflected in the variety of English spoken there. In doing so, it will explore the intersections among land, labor, people, and language to describe the development of U.P. English and key linguistic features that characterize the dialect. Professor Kathryn Remlinger's Biography: Kathryn teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate linguistics courses, including sociolinguistics, history of English language, language and gender, language and power, and an introduction to language study. Her research crosses disciplinary boundaries by integrating methods and theories from linguistics, anthropology, history, gender studies, and sociology. In general, her work focuses on the intersection of language, place, and identity, and more specifically on how the idea of dialect has emerged over time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In collaboration with undergraduate students she recently conducted a linguistic landscape study in Holland, Michigan to investigate how Dutchness is communicated in public spaces and the effects this has on belonging and exclusion. Her current research is a collaborative project investigating the use and meanings of ja (‘yah’) in a Danish heritage community in Utah and a Finnish heritage community in the Upper Peninsula. Her previous research examined intersections of language, gender, and sexuality in higher education. An important aspect of her work has been public outreach in order to foster language awareness and understanding about the effects of language attitudes on individuals and communities. Kathryn’s work has had popular appeal and appears in magazines, newspapers, and on YouTube. Kathryn serves as President-elect and Program Chair of the American Dialect Society and previously served as Associate Editor of the Society’s journal, American Speech . She earned a PhD in Rhetoric and Technical Communication with specialization in sociolinguistics, composition theory, and gender studies from Michigan Technological University. She holds an MA in English and a BA in sociology and French with a secondary education teaching certification from Morehead State University in Kentucky.
participants (2)
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Katie Rothley -
Reed, Nyama