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Library Development : Friends, Foundations & Boards : Creating and Maintaining Library Foundations Introduction - 8. THE ROLE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR |
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Library Development : Friends, Foundations & Boards : Creating and Maintaining Library Foundations Introduction - 8. THE ROLE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR |
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"The Board of a Foundation may head that individual group into different directions from what the public library needs. Also, Foundation fundraising ,and grant writing may inhibit the library from seeking local grants and local funds."
A Florida Library Director
In all aspects of the development and continued success of library foundations, the most important role is that of the library director. The library director should be the nexus of information, sharing with the library foundation's board of directors and potential donors ideas, concerns, financial and budgetary information, political sensitivities and, most critically, a vision for the future. After all, it is the library director who knows the most about the library, its challenges and its hopes for the future; and, who will ultimately be responsible for partnering in fundraising and ensuring that funds raised by the library foundation are spent in accordance with donors' wishes.
The library director should be a full voting member of the library foundation's board of directors and attend all meetings of that board and its committees in order to help shape the agenda for the foundation and actively participate in the solicitation and oversight of gifts to the foundation. In some cases, in Florida, the library director is an ex-officio or non-voting member of the foundation's board. In only one case, did the survey of Florida libraries with library foundations indicate that the library director was not a member of the board at all.
The library director is ultimately responsible for seeing that the library foundation's board of directors clearly understands the library's needs for private support, the library's mission and goals and objectives, its priorities for funding, and its capacity to accomplish the projects for which money is solicited and donated.
Half of Florida's library foundations have their own dedicated staff. For the other half, the library staff, primarily the library director or a staff development director, organizes the fundraising efforts. If the library foundation does have its own staff, it is essential that the foundation's chief executive and the library director work together in a close, open and collegial relationship. The library director and the foundation's chief staff person must share information on the goals and progress of fundraising. They must have a mutually respectful relationship and a clear understanding about their respective roles and responsibilities. Without this, the fundraising efforts by the library foundation on behalf of the library may be doomed to failure. The foundation does not run the library and should not create programs and services that the library is not willing or not able to provide. Significant problems can arise when a library foundation goes off on its own, with its own agenda, and the library no longer is the focus of its efforts.
The library director should be involved, from the very beginning, in setting up a library foundation and in its ongoing operations by:
The library director should be involved, from the very beginning, in setting up a library foundation and in its ongoing operations by:
If the library foundation chooses to hire an executive director to oversee its operations and fundraising efforts, it will be critical to detail the roles and responsibilities of that position and the ways that it relates to the library and its director so that misunderstandings do not occur. It is also important to note that the executive director of a library foundation does not manage the library or plan its programs. In fact, the executive director of a foundation cannot and should not speak for the library. Rather, the executive director and the library foundation are there to be supportive in raising funds and awareness to help the library succeed in its mission and goals. In general, a library foundation executive director will report to the foundation's board of directors and have responsibility for:
