Contact: Jennifer Collins, Executive Director
jcollins@mplfoundation.org
Office: 608.266.6318
Madison Public Library Foundation announced today that it will accelerate its fundraising efforts to meet financing and construction benchmarks so that the plan for the new Central Library can proceed on schedule. The agreement has the city contributing $17 million to the capital project (through bonds), $4.5 million will come from pending new market tax credits, and $8 million in cash and pledges will be contributed by the foundation through private fundraising. The foundation has already raised $1.5 million towards the private goal.
After hearing more about the foundation’s extensive campaign plans, its initial efforts and its past success with raising funds for library projects, Mayor Soglin declared, “I have great confidence in the Madison Public Library Foundation and its ability to meet this goal of $8 million. We have a plan now that allows the city to assess the progress of fundraising in concert with key points of the project and adjust course if needed.”
On Tuesday, Mayor Soglin and his staff met with foundation and library officials to develop a plan that would fulfill the mayor’s pledge to not put the city’s finances in jeopardy. This new plan requires that the foundation raise an additional $2.5 million by Labor Day, and establishes similarly aggressive fundraising goals for 2012.
“These benchmarks are very ambitious,” notes Library Board Chair and Central Campaign Chair Tripp Widder, “but this is an important project for the City of Madison to complete now for many reasons. It will be critical to our success that the Madison community demonstrates its love of libraries by coming forward with generous contributions. I believe it will.”
Mayor Soglin agreed that the new Central Library is a high priority. City officials note that the cost of repairing the existing facility is between $5-7 million. On the current timeline, construction contracts for the new Central Library are expected to be signed in December 2011 with construction to begin shortly thereafter.
“The title of the campaign is Learning for a Lifetime: The Community Campaign for a New Central Library,” states Jennifer Collins, the foundation’s Executive Director. “We have always planned to draw on a broad community of supporters to make the new library a reality. With this plan in place, we are excited to begin our fundraising efforts in earnest.”
The mission of the Madison Public Library Foundation is to promote and support Madison’s library system, ensuring that the library services and facilities meet the community’s needs. In 1993, the Madison Public Library Foundation was established in the spirit of public/private partnership with the City of Madison to assist in filling the financial gap between appropriated City funds and the ever-rising costs of library resources and services that meet the diverse needs of our community. Since that time the foundation has provided more than three million dollars to library facilities, programs, and services and holds over two million dollars in general and branch endowments to sustain the long-term health of Madison’s libraries.
