Foundations

Question:

Could the presenters at the Ontario Library Association session on Funding and Gaming (Feb. 2000) talk about the lists of Foundations that are available and could help us to target specific groups or individuals or institutions that we could approach for fund-raising. How can Friends obtain the list without a huge cost?

Answer:

There are a number of fee based tools to use for researching foundations' and corporations' giving interests.
I subscribe to the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy's on-line directory of foundations.  This costs $325 if you're a CCP member.  To give information from the directory out to other organizations would contravene the membership criteria.  And I suspect that you'd run into the same situation if you were to use BIG data information or Rainforest Publications to benefit another organization.

There is however a print version of the CCP directory that some libraries purchase for their collections, and you can request it by ILL to do your research.  Once you've got a list of prospects, you can submit that to me, and I can help out with any more recent information (the electronic version is updated many times a year).

The CCP also provides a service that will do searches for you for a fee - much cheaper than buying the whole directory.   They will work with you to refine the search, and give you the results with complete contact information for each hit.

There are a couple of libraries who have had recent capital campaigns and had success with foundations, might be willing to share their  information - Barrie comes to mind.

Microsoft and free computers:

Question:

Sorry to bother you during what must be busy times; I hope I have a simple, easily answered question for you.
Our Friends  is about to purchase a computer. One of our potential suppliers is trying to ascertain whether we
qualify for one of Microsoft's Educational Grants to Libraries and Schools. He does not seem to be able to find the trail.

Do you know if the above is worth pursuing? Do you know of an address or contact person?
 

Answer:

I checked with a librarian in my local school board, and he hasn't heard of that program, and felt if it was still running that
it applied to the U.S. market and not the Canadian one. I do remember some publicity about Bill Gates giving $1 million or billion to libraries in the form of computer hardware, but that seems a long time ago. I checked their website - www.microsoft.com, and saw no reference to it.

- - Jami

Update:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's program provides grants to Canadian public libraries serving low-income communities. This program follows the Foundations mission of partnering with public libraries to bring access to computers, the Internet, and digital information for patrons in low-income communities. It was announced February 4, 2000 during the OLA conference that the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation would receive $8,399,702 from the Foundation and a further $3,200,000 from Microsoft Canada.

Find out more about the Foundation at: http://www.glf.org/learning/libraries/internationalinit/canpartnership.htm. You will be able to find the list of the provincial contacts here. Ontario's contact Stan Squires provided additional assistance with this question, since it originated from an Ontario Friends group.

"If your members wish to find out more on their own provincial announcements the first seven provinces have announced and are listed under Press releases on the Foundation website. The others plus Territories will be announcing publicly over the next few months," he writes..

He noted libraries in Ontario are in fact eligible for funding from the Foundation and would have already received the application package in February. However there has been confusion between or among a number of different similar sounding names, and suggests the name "Microsoft program for School and Libraries" is not a Microsoft program, and is not for schools. There have been previous Microsoft programs such as "Libraries Online" and Microsoft did fund the Ottawa and Toronto Public Libraries through this program. He felt the question may refer to another program which affects schools.

Revenue Canada and charitable status

Question:

I  have a question you re: Revenue Canada and FOL.  Have most Friends registered as separate charities or are they using their parent body, either the municipality, Regional Board or institution, tax status for the issuing of receipts?  Is Revenue Canada recognizing Friends groups as Charitable Organizations by their definition? {From the FOLUSA listserv]

Answer:

You can use a toll-free number (800) 267-2384 to call Revenue Canada and order a free copy of their booklet
"Registering a Charity for Income Tax Purposes". The booklet will answer all your questions. I think that you
should obtain your own charitable registration number for your Friends group. If the institution you donate to
is also a registered charity, Revenue Canada will want to know that registration number.

Yes Revenue Canada is recognizing Friends as charitable organizations. I got a number for my municipal Friends
group in Sudbury.  Documents required, in addition to the application form, include:

- Constitution (governing documents)
- Annual financial report
- Financial statement - expenditures and revenue
- Statement of activities for the year - which give a clear sense of the organization's intended mode of   
  operation as well as the full scope of its activities
- Copies of any promotional material (brochures, newsletters, posters . . .)

One portion of our Constitution, that we failed to have, related to dissolution  and that the business of the
organization is to be carried on without purpose of gain for its members

Sample text:
Upon dissolution of Friends of Canadian Libraries or winding up of its
affairs, the assets shall be applied and distributed as follows:  after payment of obligations,
all remaining assets remaining assets shall be transferred to the Canadian Library Association
as a registered charitable organization.

Insurance

Question

How do different libraries handle the question of insurance for their Friends groups?  Do Friends groups need insurance coverage? Are they covered under the library's policy? A related question is about volunteers (who may be members of the Friends) who deliver books to the home-bound.  Are they covered by any insurance policy while out on their rounds, or should they be insured?

 Answers:

Town of Pelham has two Friends groups, and an alderman raised this issue three years ago. Our insurer was quite definite . . . Friends ARE covered, IF they accept three conditions:

a)     their executive must be approved by the board

b)    their bank account must be in the Board's name, and

c)     they must be prepared to have their books audited by the town's auditors

. . . . . .

When I raised this question with the Treasurer who is in charge of municipal insurance, he assured me that our volunteers and Board members are covered under the Library’s (City's) policy. (Elliot Lake, Ont.)

. . . . . .

It's my recollection that the City, of which the library is a division, pays the insurance that covers volunteers who deliver to homebound customers.

. . . . . .

It was brought to our attention at least three years ago that the municipal insurance carrier for the City that included the library did not cover the Friends of the Library. Volunteers working under the auspices of the library for the shut-in service were covered. It was this very issue that led to the disbanding of our Friends group who were going to operate the library cafe. There was also no liability coverage for the executive of the Friends group and resulted in no takers for those positions.

. . . . . .

The Friends of Cumberland Public Library run a bookstore within the library building.  They have and pay their own insurance but do so through the Library's carrier.

. . . . . .

* From: FOCAL POINT Spring 2001

Letter, Glen White, June 26, 2006

We, in River John, N.S. own our library building as you know. The Friends of the  River John Library  have liability insurance for the members to the sum of $5 Million at a cost of $2 000.00 per year. Expensive but necessary as we see it.

If there were an umbrella group or insurance firm that would provide liability insurance for all Friends groups at a significantly reduced price then what a bonus.

. . . . . .

Information from Volunteer Canada website - http://volunteer.ca/en/membership/benefits/directorliability

Membership cost - A Volunteer Canada membership costs $100 per year. By joining Volunteer Canada, all participants are subject to premium savings of up to 30%.  Premiums are based on annual budget/revenue and level of coverage needed.  Please visit their website for the full chart, and current premiums. These figures were copied from their website May 4, 2008.