By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
‘Unmistakenly, this is a good news report,” Dick and Nadine Edwards said about the Wood County District Public Library’s “Securing Our Future” campaign.
At the library’s board of trustees meeting Monday, the campaign co-chairs announced the campaign is within about $115,000 of reaching its $2 million goal.
The 11-member Campaign Steering Committee has been working since its first meeting on Dec. 4, 2024. And within about 14 months, the committee has “quietly, but most effectively” raised $1.885 million dollars, Edwards said, pointing to “the generosity of a strong and forward-thinking group of library enthusiasts and believers in the library’s future.”
Usually, philanthropic campaigns are publicly announced when half of the goal has been met. “We are over-achievers here,” WCDPL Director of Development, Jessica McClure said about being close to the overall goal set at the beginning. “People love the library.”
The success to date demonstrates the community’s enthusiasm for the library, “and its distinguished and admirable record of service for 150 years,” Edwards said. “The campaign’s success to date is directly linked to the campaign’s theme of “Securing Our Future.”
The campaign funds are directed for an endowment to ensure the library’s financial stability for the next 150 years, WCDPL Director Michael Penrod said. The funds are managed through the Bowling Green Community Foundation/Greater Toledo Community Foundation, to provide a stable, long-term revenue stream.
Penrod explained that libraries in general are facing funding needs and challenges. “I tell people all that time that Andrew Carnegie said that libraries were best when it was a public-private partnership,” he said. “Carnegie would give the building to a community if they agreed to tax themselves. So we have the public library fund, a local operating levy and private philanthropy. Those are the only three revenue streams that we have available to us.”
“These gifts are truly a legacy because when someone says, I want my gift to be endowed, they’re writing a check for $10,000 or $15,000 and they know that that’s not going to go towards buying books or a program this year,” Penrod said. “That money’s going to be put aside into an account that along with all the other gifts, will eventually be large enough to generate a separate constant revenue stream for the library, which with the uncertainties of the other two, it’s definitely that public-private partnership.”
With all our donors and potential donors, we have and we will continue to stress that the campaign is not about the library’s day-to-day funding needs or about ‘bricks and mortar.’ Rather, it is about the library’s future – the next 150 years, if you will,” Edwards told the trustees.
The donations have included cash, pledges and estate planning gifts.
People have been so supportive of the campaign because of a desire to continue the work that has been the cornerstone of the library for 150 years.
When talking to community members, about the campaign and the library, “There is a central theme,” said McClure. “The library is seen as a central, beloved community hub where people build lifelong memories. This is where they met their friends, brought their children and attended programs as they got older. It’s always been such a big part of people’s lives for their whole life.”
Novel Night continues for immediate operational costs
McClure has been on the front line for the library’s campaign, along with Penrod and the steering committee. She wanted to assure the public that the library’s Novel Night fundraiser in July will still be held. The difference is that Novel Night “is separate from the endowment campaign,” she said.
Novel Night, which was introduced in 2009 by Bob and Pat Maurer, is an annual fundraiser, “a grand party,” Penrod said, established specifically to help with immediate operational costs like buying books.
“Michael loves to buy books,” McClure said.
“I’m very frugal on a lot of things, but boy, if I can find an extra thousand dollars to buy books … Novel Night provides a lot of money for our book budget, which is allowing us to meet that immediate need for local reading demand,” Penrod said. “The library’s commitment to print and digital books, supported by private fundraising, sets it apart from libraries across Ohio and the country and contributes to its high usage compared to state and national trends.”
McClure also announced the library will host a public open house event to celebrate the campaign. On Saturday, March 14, the public is encouraged to visit the library between 10 a.m. and noon for refreshments and to make final donations, which will be matched up to $2,500 by an anonymous donor, McClure said. People who make gifts on that date will also be entered into a raffle for a library basket.
In addition to Dick and Nadine Edwards, other members of the steering committee include Becky Bhaer, honorary chair; and Clif and Judy Boutelle, Board President Ken Frisch, Mary Green, Sharon Hanna, Judy Hudson, Dianne Klein and Trustee Brian Paskvan.
The steering committee is such a force to be reckoned with,” McClure said. “Everyone on that committee, and especially led by the Edwards, who are truly pillars of the community, there is not a better group of people you could get together. And they have really made this the success that it is.”
“They’re just a phenomenal group of library supporters,” Penrod said. “They went out and started talking to their friends, talking to our donors, and Jessica’s talking to people, meeting people. It’s been amazing.”
The campaign will officially wrap up at the end of May, “but we will continue to look to the future and do everything possible to make sure that we can still be here strong and stable for years to come,” Penrod said.
Individuals may support the campaign by making a:
- One-time gift of any amount
- Multi-year pledge
- Planned giving or legacy gift
- Donating appreciated assets
For questions about making a gift or pledge, please contact Jessica McClure at 419-352-5104 ext. 232. Checks can be made out to “WCDPL Foundation” and dropped off at the library or mailed to: WCDPL, 251 N Main Street, Bowling Green, OH 43402.
For more information about the campaign, visit https://www.wcdpl.org/securing-our-future. To make an online gift, go to: https://www.wcdpl.org/securing-our-future-campaign-donation
“This is just the stepping stone, because we have 149 more years to go,” Penrod said.
Donors for the campaign are listed on a wall near the entrance. The donor wall isn’t a thermometer like many campaigns use. Instead, it looks like shelves filled with pictures of cats, plants and books that list the donor’s names.
“We want to fill the shelves so much that we bump the cats and the plants off the shelves,” McClure said with a smile.
