Endowments - The Gift That Keeps On Giving

By Tripp Widder III, Madison Public Library Foundation Board President

In the last issue of Sequels, we included an article on endowment funds – both the MPLF general endowment (almost $2 million) and the three existing branch library endowments – Hawthorne, Pinney and Lakeview.

In this issue, I would like to continue that discussion both because of an exciting new development, which I will describe in more detail as well as the overall importance of endowments to insure the long-term sustainability of program support for the Madison Public Library.

As my fellow Foundation board members know, I am now and always have been a strong believer in the establishment and maintenance of endowment funds for the Madison Public Library Foundation. Albert Einstein is reputed to have expressed awe at the power of compound interest. Endowment funds are, in my view, simply a variation on that theme.

We all know that times are financially challenging at the moment both for individuals and municipalities. Funding for Madison Public Library programs and materials has been and will continue to be under stress for the foreseeable future.
The endowment model allows us to help alleviate that pressure on an ongoing basis. Individual branch endowments are designed to allow those individuals who feel a particular affinity for a particular branch library to make a permanent gift to support activities at that branch library. Over time, we hope to establish endowments for each branch so that we have this continuing source of funds to support their activities Obviously, the larger each endowment fund becomes, the more monies will be available for branch programs and materials.

To help with the effort, I am thrilled that the Madison Community Foundation selected the new Sequoya Branch Library as one of three libraries to participate in its 2009 Library Endowment Matching Challenge Grant program. Effective for January 1, 2009, for every $1.00 contributed to the Sequoya branch endowment campaign, the Madison Community Foundation will match it by $.50 up to a maximum of $100,000. Thus, if we were able to attract the full complement of the match-$100,000 in contributions to the endowment during 2009, the Madison Community Foundation would contribute an additional $50,000. That would mean an endowment of $150,000. If the endowment was able to earn sufficient sums so that five (5%) percent could be distributed annually (which has been the historical amount distributed by the community foundation on endowment funds), that would translate into $7500 being made available every year for Sequoya Branch activities. Imagine the possibilities if we could do that for every branch in the system.

If you have any questions or interest in making a contribution to an endowment for any branch, including of course, the Sequoya Branch and having your contribution matched through the Madison Community Foundation, please contact  us at (608) 266-6318. We would love to hear from you and are very excited about this new initiative to the support the Madison Public Library.