Library Fundraising
Posted on: July 28, 2009
As many of you know, I live in a small town. Living in a small town equals having a small library. A small library means a small book selection. Now, don’t get my wrong, I LOVE my library. I go there three or four times a week to hang out and help. BUT, their teen section pretty much sucks. In the last year it’s gotten better because I donate my books and a few of my friends complained about not having enough teen books but the truth is, they get in very few books due to their small budget.
So a few friends and I have made it out mission to help out the YA section of our their. A few weeks ago when they had their book sale we ran a booksale. It only raised about $50 (like I said, small town. And I pretty much baked everything) but that paid for a few books.
They have a fall booksale that usually attracts more people because they do it during a town festival. We are going to try to do more fundraising around that time. We’re thinking another bakesale but I’d like to try some other things too. My grandma suggested a basket raffle or Chinese Auction but I’m not sure how to get items for those.
I know many of you volunteer at libraries, are librarians, or just come up with good ideas and I’d LOVE it if you could provide any suggestions. I’ll be running everything by my librarian, of course, but I need stuff to run by her. 🙂
7 Responses to "Library Fundraising"
July 28, 2009 at 10:12 pm
If you have a new copy of a book that’s relatively popular and you are willing to give away, you can maybe get it signed by the author and raffle that off. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a YA book either… And whatever you do, no matter the fundraiser, if you don’t stick a price on something and instead ask for a donation, people tend to give more if they know it’s for a good cause. We raised $500 dollars at a bake sale that way. Instead of pricing stuff, we just asked for a donation. Some people were really generous, giving a 20 for a plate of cookies, etc.
July 28, 2009 at 10:51 pm
When my school fundraises, we ask around at local businesses for donations. Then we raffle those off for like $2 a ticket and $3 for 2 or something.
July 28, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Good luck. I don’t really have any ideas, but I think what you’re doing is a good thing.
July 29, 2009 at 5:47 am
I think it’s great you and your friends are doing this! I would ask around local businesses if they would be willing to donate gift cards or prizes to raffle off, bake sales are good, depending on how your library handles donations you could pull together a list of popular YA books and ask for people to “sponsor” purchasing a copy for the library.
[…] If you saw yesterday’s post, you know that I’m working on some ways to help my library out. With the help of those who […]
August 14, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Dude, I know how you feel. Our library’s YA section is 7 shelves. That are three-quarters full.
Harmony Book Reviews 
July 28, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Our library is a bit bigger, but if there’s some restaurants around the area, or fast food places… you can do a fundraiser, where if people come in that night, the library gets 10 or 20%. You’d have to talk to the restaurant managers and then advertise around the library and town.