With a Little Help From Our Friends A re:volution in Library Advocacy GOLD/GALILEO Conference July 31, 2009

It’s All About re:lationships! Or… It’s All About re:lationships!

Friends Do we need them? How can they help us? How do we help them be successful? How many of you have Friends groups? What do they do for you? We’re going to talk about how to get a group started, Keep them on track, And solve any problems that may occur. I’ll also talk briefly about putting together an advocacy campaign.

Need for Friends Library budgets are shrinking. People love libraries, but aren’t aware that they need help. Users are the wrong target group. From Awareness to Funding OCLC study, 2008 Does anyone doubt the need? Economy Lack of awareness that libraries are in trouble If you had to choose between a user and an advocate, what would you choose?

Value of Friends Built-in base of support Represent beneficiaries of our service Close to / known by community Advocacy rule of 10 Besides the obvious fundraising and monetary support, how can Friends help? One of the benefits is that built-in base of support—communicates that the library is loved and supported Members should be active in a number of arenas

Start Now! Secure buy-in Use tools at Find the right people http://www.folusa.org/resources/fact-sheets.php Find the right people Provide clear definition of role, responsibilities Appoint a steering committee Buy-in from administration, development officer, library board Right people—what are you looking for? Know what role Friends should assume, and what responsibilities are appropriate and make it EXPLICIT Steering committee of high-profile people

Steering Committee Decisions Mission Benefits of membership Membership goals and dues (numbers vs. commitment) Constitution and Bylaws (samples at www.folusa.org ) Tax exempt status Kick-off event Must be some reason for people to get involved—not necessarily tangible Membership=high numbers at low cost (FOGL) or lower numbers at higher cost (leaders)? Depends on your goals and who you need to attract. If you expect gross receipts under $5000 you can be considered tax-exempt already. Event is a good way to get media’s attention, attract large numbers of folks, let people know about your group

When Friends Become Fiends Mission drift Clubby clique Loose cannon Role confusion Power grabber How can Friends turn into Fiends? Prevention is the best medicine for these ills Once problems occur, may need MOU

Create Solutions Memorandum of Understanding Leadership Change Retreat to clarify roles and responsibilities Leadership Change Thank-you event for past leaders Introduce strong members Self-evaluation, self-monitoring Sometimes shining a light on the problems can help MOU, have a retreat Bring peer pressure to bear

Identify Key Advocates Relationship mapping Education Business Recreation Students You Government Civic Organizations How do you find the people you need to help with your advocacy campaign? Remember, it’s all about relationships! Everyone on the steering committee should do this Parents Social Services Industry

Build a Coalition Statement of need Who is interested? Find mutual connections Limited involvement You may be able to pull in people you don’t normally align with around specific issues— For example, maybe the local realtor’s association supports a new library building for economic development. Depends on having a clear statement of your need/issue Brainstorm –who else would care or would benefit from it? How can you get to them? (Use relationship mapping)

Plan the Advocacy Campaign Identified need Timeline Clear strategy Who? What? When? Specific assignments Follow-up Match assignments to team’s skills and interests

Conduct the Campaign Tell stories about why the library matters Listen Recognize and thank Evaluate the outcome Answer the question “so what?” Focus on benefits to users (participants read example of audio book) Listening is an important skill in advocacy—what do decision makers care about? Public recognition always great for elected officials, but THANK-YOU notes are powerful, too!

Get Your Geek On! Gates-funded OCLC campaign Savannah area and Des Moines, IA Multiple channels (billboards, festivals, newspapers, radio, TV) geekthelibrary.org Aware of this campaign right now Geek is now a verb Whatever you are passionate about, the library can support you. Points people to the website, geekthelibrary.org

A FULL RANGE OF ‘GEEKS’ – THE LIBRARY IS FOR EVERYONE Small Print: The library can help everyone explore the things they geek. Get your geek on. Show your support. Brought to you by OCLC, a nonprofit library cooperative, with funding from a grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

re:cap It’s all about relationships! Start now. Stay on track. Plan and evaluate. Listen and thank. Celebrate success! We’ve looked at some ways to get started To keep everyone on track and on message Planning and evaluation are imperative! Remember to listen. Thank in as many ways as you can think of. Celebrate –one more way to engage media, other supporters, raise your profile