'Securing the Future'

November 06, 2017 Last Updated: November 19, 2017 06:23 PM Community

From left, South Butler Community Library director Michelle Lesniak; Kathy Allen, co-chairman of the endowment committee; and committee member Ramona Baker, tape up a poster at the library in Saxonburg last week at the start of the library's endowment campaign. That campaign will end April 1.

South Butler Community Library seeks longterm financial stability

SAXONBURG — The South Butler Community Library plans to start a new chapter of financial stability with the launch last week of its “Securing the Future” endowment campaign.

Running through April 1, 2018, the library hopes the drive will bring in $1 million to be used as a hedge against future budget shortfalls.

“We are just trying to have a financial vision that allows us to be secure and sustainable,” said Kathy Allen co-chairman of the endowment committee.

“We have no debt and we run on a balanced budget,” said Allen. She added past library fundraisers have all gone to the annual operating budget of $155,000, but the endowment “is something totally different.”

“A lot of not-for-profit systems such as a library run on a shoestring, but we don't and we want to be part of the community forever,” said Allen.

Ramona Baker, an endowment committee member, said the campaign will be asking corporate and individual donors to make pledges between now and April to be paid over three years.“We have $200,000 already from the original endowment. Board members have locked in money already to get things started,” Baker said.Baker said the $200,000 was from a previous endowment drive when the library moved to its present location at 240 W. Main St. in 1994.Allen said, “We are reaching out to businesses and organizations initially with mailings and in-person visits and meetings at businesses.”One local businessman on board is the drive's honorary chairman, Carl Johnson the co-founder of II-VI Incorporated.Allen said, “Dr. Carl Johnson has graciously accepted that role and will be generous over the next five years with his donations.”Baker said, the approaching holiday season “is the best time of year to approach businesses. It is a good community project for businesses to be involved in.”Individual donations will be sought, said Allen. “This is a community effort. We will be reaching out to businesses, individuals and corporations.”Michelle Lesniak, the library director, said the endowment will be used to generate interest which will be reinvested unless the library faces a future budget shortfall.Lesniak said, “We get about 50 percent of our budget from the government: state and the local municipalities the library serves (Saxonburg borough and the townships of Jefferson, Winfield, Buffalo, Clinton and Penn) and the county.”Lesniak said, “The goal is to secure the future of the library, especially with the state budgets in flux. If we have this fund and interest we can use it if we need to or expand programs. ”Allen and Lesniak said repeated state budget wrangling could delay funds for the library even as patron visits and services have increased.Lesniak said library visits have gone from 31,200 in 1992 to 128,647 in 2016, an increase of 412 percent.“Expectations are high, but we never assumed growth would be this big,” said Lesniak. “The library is very highly utilized. Even the teenagers come here to socialize.”For more information, visit southbutlerlibrary.org.