Match Game

Some of the feedback we’ve received so far from the strategic planning process is news that warms the cockles of our hearts: Pittsburghers want us to keep them informed on how they can donate to the library. It’s really encouraging for all of us to know that you want to support our civic work, so we’re resolved to make it as easy as possible for you.

Created by Amy, from an original photo by Frank E. Bingaman

All through the merry month of May, for example, you can maximize your support of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh by making a donation to the Perfect Match campaign. Although this promotion does not, alas, feature the wit and whimsy of the late Charles Nelson Reilly, it does give you the opportunity to help the library in a way that’s double the fun: all gifts made by May 31, 2012 will be MATCHED by the library’s Board of Trustees and a committed group of leadership supporters, making this opportunity the best game in town if you want to make your contribution go as far as possible.

Ready to play?  You have options!

• To make a gift by mail, print out the gift form and send it back to:

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

4400 Forbes Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

• Prefer to give online? Visit our donation page!
• Coming to the library anyway? Staff members at any of our locations will accept your donation, with thanks.
• Want to try a different form of library support? Upgrade your library card to a Donor Plus Card.
• Enjoy donating socially? Purchase tickets to tonight’s After Hours event and party for a cause!*

Visit the official Perfect Match campaign page to read the fine print, and thank you in advance for your support–past, present, and future–of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Because helping us engage our community in literacy and learning is like playing a game where everybody wins.

–Leigh Anne

*While tickets last! These events tend to sell out, so why are you still reading this?

9 more days…

… until we kick off the Winter Read-a-Thon!

What is the Winter Read-a-Thon, you ask?  The Winter Read-a-Thon is like a walk-a-thon, but instead of walking on one day in the summer, you raise money for the collections at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh by reading as much as you can for six weeks of winter! Register in person or drop off your online registration confirmation and $5 registration fee, and get your pledge packet and a handy, dandy bookmark clock. 

Your handy, dandy bookmark clock

Get your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors to pledge you — they can pledge by the hour, or a single amount for the whole six weeks. Then you read, read, read between January 8th and February 19th. If you get hourly pledges, keep track of how much time you spend reading, and collect your pledges when the reading period is over. Turn them in by March 7 and collect a prize! You may even qualify for your own, customized READ poster!

Where do you begin?  At one of our kick-off parties, going on all around the city. At the Main Library, you can come to hear four different authors read from their work, curl up and read in one of our comfy reading chairs, talk to other readers, enjoy a cup of cocoa and win cool prizes! Or you can head to Beechview, Squirrel Hill, Mt. Washington, the Hill District, Woods Run, or West End to join in the city-wide community “Read In.”  Can’t make it on the 8th? Head to Lawrenceville on the 15th, or attend one of these other events.  This reading celebration goes on for 6 whole weeks!

Any time you come to a reading event or a book discussion, it counts as reading, as does reading blogs, newspapers and magazines, reading to your kids or grandkids, and listening to audiobooks. Don’t know what to read?  Our librarians can give you a personal recommendation, or you can browse our many lists of suggestions!

Really, it’s the easiest, and coziest, fundraiser ever, and all the money you raise helps us buy more books and other reading materials for you! How else would you rather spend these dark, cold winter months?

– Kaarin

 

Pittsburgh’s Day of Giving

Not a day goes by that I don’t fantasize about creating an endowment for the library.  Dressed to the nines, with winning PowerBall ticket in hand, I will call a press conference in the Reference Department.  There, in a speech designed to make the angels weep,  I will finish the job Andrew Carnegie began by declaring my intention to fund the Carnegie Library in perpetuity.  Banners will wave.  People will cheer.  Brian O’Neill will write a wryly laudatory column about the whole affair, and we’ll all live happily ever after.

It’s a lovely daydream.  Of course, for any of that to happen, I would have to start actually buying tickets.  And I totally would, except that, while the deus ex machina approach satisfies my flair for the dramatic, the odds are against my being able to pull that particular rabbit out of my hat.

Luckily, none of us has to save the library all alone.  Everything goes better when we all work together, and some wonderful folks at The Pittsburgh Foundation have created an opportunity for smaller-scale philanthropists like you and me, so we can do just that. 

Tomorrow, October 28, 2009, is the day you can do your part for library funding.  Click here for details, or click on the stunning black-and-gold “PittsburghGives.org” icon in the right-hand sidebar of our blog, to learn more about this special opportunity to help the library.

Think a smaller donation can’t make a difference?  Courtesy of the fine people in the CLP Development Office, here are some examples of the kind of  impact your donation can have:

$25 buys two children’s picture books, such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar or Goodnight Moon. It’s also enough purchasing power for one graphic novel.

$50 allows the library to purchase one non-fiction audio book.

$75 buys three titles for the Bestsellers collection, which includes popular works by authors such as Dan Brown, Patricia Cornwell, and James Patterson.

If you’re in a position to give a little bit more, your dollars can go even further.  Observe:

$100 supplies a puppeteer or storyteller during summer reading.

$150 covers guest speaking fees for a program on job seeking or tax law.

$250 pays for a one-year subscription to The Wall Street Journal, one of our many periodicals.

Now, let’s say you and your friends threw a house party, or had a bake sale, and you’ve pooled a larger amount of resources for the library.  How far will your contribution go?

$500 provides professional staff and literacy materials for a community outreach visit to a local school or child care center.

$1,000 allows the library to hold four multi-session workshops for parents, so they can assist  their children’s early literacy development.

$2,000 pays for approximately one month of access to one of the library’s research databases.

Even if you’re not quite ready to fund the burning need for full-text journal articles just yet, it’s okay:  every little bit helps.  Please consider taking advantage of this special opportunity to help the library on Pittsburgh’s day of giving.  And after you donate, you can give yourself a pat on the back for being part of the team effort to save Pittsburgh’s libraries.

Everyday philanthropy, woo hoo!  Tune in next time when I’ll tell you all about why I have a Donor Plus Card (no, it’s not a job requirement!).

Leigh Anne
aspiring fairy goth-mother