91´«Ã½

The St. Charles (Mo.) City-County Library District has been named as the Gale Cengage Learning Financial Development Award recipient for 2011 for its Imagine campaign. The campaign was created in 2009 with a project goal of $25,000 as a vehicle to cultivate donor interest for the St. Charles City-County Library Foundation which supports the Library District.

According to Kristin Williams, planning and development coordinator for the St. Charles District, who nominated the district for the honor, the campaign incorporated active fundraising to benefit programming in community outreach and services.

While the Foundation existed for a number of years prior to this campaign, its model for cooperation proved to be the catalyst for success. By creating collaborative partnerships with Foundation board members, Library district staff and the general community, the St. Charles (Mo.) City-County Library District was able to utilize the proceeds from their first year, more than $20,000 to aid their program needs.

The beneficiary of its first year’s effort was the creation of Early Literacy Kits for distribution to pre-readers and their parents. These kits were designed to encourage reading and to provide tools that would be useful to the learning process. In all, 2,000 kits were distributed to local social service agencies and school districts' kindergarten and pre-school programs.

The St. Charles (Mo.) City-County Library District, through innovative and creative project fundraising, is poised to achieve its goal of developing a culture of philanthropy throughout the library district while offering users both new and familiar, greater access without financial limitations.

Members of the 2010 Gale Cengage Learning Financial Development Award jury were Angela A. Williams, Chair, Syracuse University; Romina Gutierrez, Princeton Public Library; Jennifer Paustenbaugh, Oklahoma State University; Janice L. Flug, Silver Spring, Md.; Jonathan Kinloch, Detroit Public Library.

The 2010 Gale Cengage Learning Financial Development Award will be presented at the 91´«Ã½ Award Ceremony and Reception, prior to the Inaugural Banquet, on Tuesday, June 28, during the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in New Orleans.

The deadline for submissions of applications for the 2012 Gale Cengage Learning Financial Development Award is Dec. 1, 2010. are available on the 91´«Ã½ website.