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
Eleventh Stack 