Give for the Future: Compound Your Gift with the General Endowment

With Fairfax Library Foundation, you can give for the future by giving to the General Endowment. The General Endowment was established in 2000 by the Foundation’s Board of Directors to help support the future of the Foundation and the library.

When you give to the General Endowment you are giving to a longstanding account whose purpose is to provide funds for current programs and services while continuing to grow to support future initiatives. Therefore, when you give to the General Endowment, your gift actually increases in value over time. Your gift to the General Endowment will be used Books and Materials, Early Literacy, Virtual Library (including eBooks), Scholarships, and Programs, as well as general support.

One resident who has been giving to the General Endowment for over a decade is Jean Durfee. Ms. Durfee has been giving annually to support the Foundation through its General Endowment since 2002. Fairfax Library Foundation is proud to have a partner in Jean Durfee who is dedicated to the future of the library. The Foundation is grateful for all she has given throughout the years, and all the support her endowment gifts will continue to give in the future.

If you, too, would like to give to the General Endowment fund, please visit our website.

Spring Appeal Announced

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give,” Winston Churchill once said.

As we reach the growing season this spring, we hope you think of literacy, education, and the Fairfax County Public Library. Fairfax Library Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the library, and we ask you to join us this season in giving.

While Fairfax County Public Library is widely regarded as one of the best library systems in the nation, the recent increase in demand for public library use and services together with radically changing technology has created a challenging climate for the library to maintain its high level of performance. To remain a valuable, free resource for Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax, the library needs your help.

A small gift to Fairfax Library Foundation will make an enormous difference in critical library programs and services:

-A gift of $50 provides a Ready to Read Early Literacy Outreach story-time session and storybook for three children and their caregivers.

-Your gift of $75 to the Library Foundation will fund the purchase of two new eBook bestsellers for library. The Foundation has provided over $200,000 to expand the library’s eBook and non-print collection. Due to growing popularity, most days over 80% of the library’s eBooks are checked out by customers.

-A gift of $150 funds an average Continuing Education scholarship. To date, over $38,000 in Continuing Education scholarships has been awarded to enhance the skills and the level of service provided to library customers , while over $95,000 in Academic scholarships have been awarded.

-A gift of $330 allows one participant to complete a Changing Lives Through Literature (CLTL) session, an alternative to formal court action for first-time juvenile offenders in conjunction with probation and parole for young adult offenders.

-A $400 gift to the Foundation brings one Summer Reading Program event to the library. The library’s Author Presentations and Programs, including the Summer Reading Program, draw large numbers of community members to the library each year. In fact, over 170,000 library customers attended nearly 9,000 library programs in 2012.

Discover the difference you can make in local education and literacy by donating to Fairfax Library Foundation. Discover what it means to “make a life.” We ask for your generosity to help library services and programs grow to reach more library customers in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. Please join with us in supporting your library today by making your tax-deductible contribution to Fairfax Library Foundation. Give online to our Spring Appeal today.

Academic Scholarship Winners Announced

Congratulations to our Academic Scholarship winners for 2013. Of all of our qualified applicants, Fairfax Library Foundation has selected these individuals to further their academic excellence.

Aliya Ahmed Parvez is our 2013 Edwin S. Clay, III Scholarship winner, receiving an award of $3,500. Ms. Parvez was recognized as an outstanding and dedicated applicant by our Scholarship Committee and will be honored in a special ceremony on June 12, 2013. In the fall, Aliya will complete her coursework for her Masters of Library and Information Science degree at University of North Texas.

Mary Kathryn Kent and Bridget Ryan also received MLS Scholarships of $3,000 each. Both Ms. Kent and Ms. Ryan will pursue their MLS degrees in Library and Information Science at Catholic University of America.

Thanks to the generosity of the Rotary Club of Burke, we were able to offer twice the number of Undergraduate Scholarship awards this year. 2013 also marks the first year Fairfax Library Foundation has awarded undergraduate scholarships.

Our Undergraduate Scholarship winners are Matthew Albert Beer, Thien Mai, Katherine C. Pietras, Ingrid Thais Quiroz, Claudia Rojas, and Laura Ung, receiving awards of $1,000 each. These awardees are in the midst of pursuing or will begin pursuing undergraduate degrees in the fall.

Fairfax Library Foundation congratulates these recipients and is proud to support their academic endeavors. To find out more about our scholarship program, visit our website.

Give ’Round the Clock

Fairfax Library Foundation has created the “Give ’Round the Clock” campaign for United Way’s “Do More 24” day of giving. The campaign will take place on June 6, 2013, and will go from midnight to midnight to encourage ’round the clock giving. Our goal is to raise $1,200 in twenty-four hours to provide additional funding for the Foundation’s initiatives, such as Early Literacy Outreach, funding additional eBooks for the library’s collection, and programming events for the Summer Reading Program. To be part of the Foundation’s “Give ’Round the Clock” campaign, visit United Way’s “Do More 24” website. United Way will feature Fairfax Library Foundation as one of their “Do More 24” participants and—if we meet our goals and United Way deems our campaign worthy —United Way may provide us with additional “award” funds.

We have created the “Give ’Round the Clock” campaign, in which we plan to engage donors digitally and challenge them to help us meet our fundraising goals. Our plan is to enlist 24 donors to each sponsor an hour of the day on June 6th, from midnight to midnight, to help us take advantage of all 24 hours of our campaign. Each hour has a fundraising goal, and our “hourly sponsors” will match what has been raised in the hour they are sponsoring up to that hourly goal.

Please keep an eye out for more information on our June 6th “Giving ‘Round the Clock” Event. If you would like to become an “hourly sponsor,” please email.

LITERACY THE MESSAGE FOR A MULTI-GENERATIONAL TARGET

Ready to Read Early Literacy Outreach Advocates for Reading Together in the Home

Ready to Read Early Literacy Outreach is an initiative that reaches out to young readers (ages three to five) in preschools, child care centers, and Head Start classrooms, targeting children who cannot or do not visit the library. Focusing on the essential first steps in fostering literacy, this program emphasizes the skills and concepts needed for school readiness. Ready to Read also models the importance of making books a part of everyday life by explaining services available in the library and giving a picture book to each child who participates, and their caregivers, fostering reading together in the home.

One organization that holds children and literacy close to its heart is the Lane’s Mill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Centreville-based chapter of the international volunteer women’s service organization contributes a gift each year to Fairfax Library Foundation specifically for Early Literacy Outreach. The Lane’s Mill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has been supporting early literacy through the Foundation since 2004, resulting in a total gift of $850 to date.

The Lane’s Mill Chapter is one of the newer chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution; having been organized in 1997—compared to the national organization’s founding date of 1890. In 2004, a member of the Lane’s Mill Chapter learned of the Foundation’s Early Literacy Outreach Program, which the chapter deemed a “worthwhile cause,” voting to help fund the program. As the Lane’s Mill Chapter has grown throughout the years, from ten members to its current 71 members, its support of Early Literacy has evolved as well—from a single-time donation to an annual line-item in the yearly budget.

“We fund Early Literacy Outreach through Fairfax Library Foundation because it is a worthy cause, as well as local to our chapter,” said chapter Treasurer, Brenda DeJarnette. “We’re a non-profit also and all of our donations are paid from the members’ dues, so we truly believe in the causes, like Early Literacy Outreach, that we support.”
“Literacy is one of the most important necessary skillsets we learn in our lifetimes, and we see the value in making sure each Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax resident establishes a sound footing from which to hone their abilities,” said Susan Harman, Executive Director of Fairfax Library Foundation, “We are proud to have a partner in the Lane’s Mill Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution who understands its importance as well and is willing to contribute financially to improve the lives of so many young learners in Fairfax. The gift from these women is greatly appreciated year after year.”
The Early Literacy Outreach Program reaches over 1,500 children each year. To find out more about how you can support Early Literacy Outreach, please visit our website.

Burke Rotary, Library Foundation, Partner to Provide Scholarships to Community

Fairfax Library Foundation will be able to provide more scholarships to the community this year—thanks to the Rotary Club of Burke. The Burke Rotary, an affiliate of Rotary International since 1984, has contributed a $3,000 gift to fund additional Undergraduate Scholarships for the Foundation’s Scholarship Program in 2013.


Burke Rotary has supported vocational scholarships, primarily for Northern Virginia Community College students, for a number of years. This year, they have chosen to partner with the Foundation to sponsor awards in keeping with their vocational service goals. Rotary is a world-wide service organization that provides charitable services around the globe.

Fairfax Library Foundation has provided scholarships to the community since 2002, including annual Academic Scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax, and semi-annual Continuing Education Scholarships for volunteers and staff of Fairfax County Public Library. With help from the Rotary Club of Burke, more Undergraduate Scholarships from Fairfax Library Foundation are now available to more applicants. The deadline for filing an application for an Undergraduate Scholarship is April 15th.
“We are grateful to the Rotary Club of Burke for their work to bring affordable higher education to the people of Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax,” said Executive Director of Fairfax Library Foundation Susan Harman, CFRE. “The Foundation’s Scholarship Program offers one of the most important ways we are able to give back to the community: financing education. Thanks to the Rotary Club of Burke, we are now able to accomplish this for more aspiring students of Fairfax.”

Duwain Ketch, Chairman of the Fairfax Library Foundation’s Scholarship Committee, said that donations from all sources are important to the Foundation’s success is accomplishing its goals. He urges individuals, companies and groups to consider their contributions to the Foundation to assure its success.

Fairfax Library Foundation welcomes community interest and support. Learn more about us here.

A CELEBRATION OF OUR VOLUNTEERS

April is National Volunteer Month. As such, Fairfax Library Foundation would like to take a moment to express our sincere gratitude to our volunteers. As a small organization with a big mission, we would not be able to achieve nearly as much each year or raise nearly as many funds for the library without our volunteers, including our Foundation Board of Directors and our Advisory Board, who serve voluntarily.

Thank you to all of the many volunteers—from our weekly volunteer, Beth, to all of the volunteers who helped our 2012 A Library Jubilee raise more money than ever this year, and to all those who volunteered at other events as well. Your help is truly appreciated.