FAYETTEVILLE — A little more than 30 days remain for a five-year-old $1.8 million fundraising deadline faced by the Fayetteville Public Library.
The library gets the remaining $200,000 of a $600,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities if more than $130,000 raised by July 31, according to Susan Foley, library development director.
The fundraising effort will total $2.4 million if fully raised.
The money will be used to expand material and programs related to the humanities, such as art, history and social sciences.
This week, the nonprofit Friends of the Fayetteville Public Library organization turned over $250,000, exceeding an earlier pledge of $205,000.
Foley said donations, whether $10 or $10,000, are needed.
At A Glance
Where To Donate
People interested in donating to the Fayetteville Public Library’s challenge grant program from the National Endowment for the Humanities can:
• Email library staff at [email protected]
• Call 856-7140
• Use the library’s Paypal account found at faylib.org.
Source: Fayetteville Public Library
“Help. Help us raise $138,000,” Foley said. “To say it’s an easy task is a total understatement. Fundraising is never the easiest work there is. We’re in the 11th hour on this grant.”
The $2 million endowment would earn about 3.5 percent interest annually, Foley said. The estimated $70,000 in interest would buy material such as books and videos about local archeology, history, culture and religious studies.
The money could also be used to pay for research studies on Ozark folklore, music or populations such as the Marshallese migration into the area, Foley said.
The $400,000 that isn’t earmarked for the new endowment has provided “bridge funding” to demonstrate examples of humanities-related projects. The bulk of that money has paid to create a digital photo archive of historical pictures submitted by residents. It also pays to produce a documentary on Fayetteville’s history by Larry Foley, an Emmy-winning University of Arkansas filmmaker.
The film, narrated by former President Bill Clinton, will premiere Oct. 19 during a black tie gala at the library. The event is also intended to celebrate a successful grant campaign.
Kim Ratliff, Friends president, said the nonprofit organization increased the original $205,000 in pledges to help with the shortage in the fundraising effort. The $250,000 given to the library nearly drained the organization’s account, leaving just enough to support the Friends Bookstore inside the library.
Bookstore sales is the organization’s key source of revenue, but the group also earns money from membership and garage sale-style book sales.
The group also had some savings that had laid untouched for several years, but leaders decided putting the money toward the matching grant was a better use of the money, Ratliff said.
“We want to keep the humanities supported and help the collection,” she said.
The library was the one of seven in the country to receive the matching grant and the first in Arkansas, Foley said. The national endowment has already provided $400,000 over the last five years as fundraising efforts reached different milestones, she said.
“If we raised where we are now, which is the $1.7 million, we would not get the remaining $200,000,” Foley said. “That’s what we would have in the bank. We would lose money from the government.”