Library Services Nonprofit

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Executive Summary

Anthony Thompson Community Library is a nonprofit community library in Hattiesburg, Mississippi that runs a local heritage program: it collects and digitizes community photographs, records and oral histories, teaches residents how to preserve family papers and offers history programs for schools and seniors. The library is open to everyone in Hattiesburg and the surrounding county. Our program has a Year 1 budget of about $73,000. We are asking for $59,000 from the Lakeshore Community Trust for a heritage program coordinator, digitizing equipment and materials.

Company Description

Anthony Thompson Community Library is a 501(c)(3) public charity governed by a volunteer board of seven residents, including a retired teacher and a local historian. The library has operated reading and computer programs for the county. This proposal funds a new heritage program. Programs: a digitization lab where residents bring photographs and records to be scanned and returned, an oral history project that records elders, school programs that use local history in the classroom and workshops on caring for family papers.

Why the library. The library already has a trusted public space, a base of regular visitors and long relationships with schools, churches and senior centers. Those relationships are what make it possible to collect items and stories that would otherwise be lost.

Problem & Opportunity

Hattiesburg's history lives in attics, church basements and the memories of older residents. Photographs fade, papers are thrown out in moves and elders pass away before their stories are recorded. Schools and families have few ways to learn about their own community, and no one organization is collecting and sharing this material.

Products & Services

A staffed program that collects and preserves community history in a way people can use. A coordinator runs the digitization lab, trains volunteers to record oral histories and works with teachers on lesson plans. Items are scanned, labeled and stored in a free online collection, and donors keep ownership of originals. Everything is shared only with permission.

How a visit works. A resident brings an item, the coordinator or a trained volunteer scans it on the spot, the donor chooses whether it is shared online, shared only in the library or kept private and receives a copy on a flash drive or by email. Each item gets a short description with the people, place and year, which the donor can correct at any time.

Market Analysis

The program serves residents of Hattiesburg and the county, especially older adults who hold memories and records, families who want to preserve what they have, teachers and students and local organizations such as churches, clubs and businesses with their own archives. Demand is shown by the number of people already bringing photographs and papers to the library desk.

Competitive Landscape

The university archive and a few small museums hold some local records, but they do not run open community scanning days or oral history training. The library works with them rather than competing, and offers copies of important items to partners with the owner's permission.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

Announcements at the library, schools, churches and senior centers, open digitization days each month and a story collection at local events. Donors and volunteers receive thanks, and the best stories are featured in a monthly display and online. Teachers learn about the lesson plans through the school district's library network.

The first 90 days. Days 1 to 30: post the Program Coordinator job, order the scanner and recorders and finish the consent forms. Days 31 to 60: hire the coordinator, hold a volunteer training and run a test scanning day. Days 61 to 90: open the digitization lab, record the first five oral histories and visit two schools.

Operations Plan

The program runs from a dedicated corner of the library. Residents book a time to bring items, which are scanned, described and returned the same day when possible. Oral histories are recorded with a signed consent and release form, transcribed with volunteer help and stored with backups in two places. Items are labeled with who gave them, when and what permission was given. Children's items and sensitive records follow written privacy rules.

Quality and records. Every scanned item receives a checklist review for image quality, a written description and a second check before it is added to the collection. Volunteers sign a code of conduct and receive training on privacy, copyright and respectful interviewing. Equipment is cleaned and tested each week.

Risks and how we handle them:
- Items lost or damaged. We scan before storing, keep backups in two places and use archival supplies.
- Privacy and copyright problems. Every item has a signed release, and we post nothing without permission.
- Volunteers drop out. We train more volunteers than we need and keep clear written procedures.
- Equipment failure. We keep a service plan and budget for replacement parts.

Management & Organization

Anthony Thompson, the library director, oversees the program and the grant. A Program Coordinator leads daily work and trains volunteers, and a part-time Digitization Assistant joins in the first year. Trained volunteers help with recording and transcription.

The team. Pay figures include payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance where staff are paid. The numbers in parentheses are how many people we plan to have in Years 1 through 5. A number with a half, such as 2.5, means a hire phased in during the year or one part-time person.
- Program Coordinator: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $40,000 a year.
- Digitization Assistant (part-time): 0.4, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $24,000 a year each.

Governance and money controls. The board reviews financials every month and approves the budget each year. An outside accountant prepares the yearly return, and every grant has its own budget line. Two people review every payment, and the library's audit committee meets twice a year.

Feedback and complaints. Residents can give feedback in person, by phone or through a form at the desk. We review comments each quarter and report themes to the board. Anyone who contributes an item can ask for its removal from public view at any time.

Training and conduct. Every staff member and volunteer completes an orientation, signs a code of conduct and receives a refresher each year. Anyone who sees a problem can tell a supervisor or a board member directly.

Milestones Narrative

Goals for each of the first five years. These are goals, not promises.
- Before the grant starts: hire the Program Coordinator, buy and test the scanning and recording equipment and finalize consent forms.
- Year 1: scan about 2,000 items, record about 30 oral histories and run six school visits. Budget about $73,000.
- Year 2: scan about 3,500 items, record 50 oral histories and publish the first online collection. Budget about $94,000.
- Year 3: add a second digitization station and train 20 volunteers. Budget about $119,400.
- Year 4: offer a county-wide history day and partner with two more schools. Budget about $148,600.
- Year 5: publish a plain results report and plan for the library to carry the program in its regular budget. Budget about $180,300.

How we will measure results: items preserved and shared, oral histories recorded, school visits, volunteers trained, people who say they learned something new and the number of times collections are viewed. We report to funders twice a year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $59,000 from the Lakeshore Community Trust for a Program Coordinator's salary, digitization materials and equipment and administration, for a 2-year period.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Program Coordinator salary, $40,000.
- Supplies: Scanning, recording and archival materials and equipment, $12,000.
- Indirect Charges: Administration and audit support, $7,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 95% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $73,000, planned to end the first year with a small deficit of about $2,400, covered by startup money. Year 1 money coming in: grant Revenue $62,000; friends of the Library and Donations $11,000. Year 1 costs: program Coordinator $40,000; digitization Assistant (part-time) $9,600; archival materials, scanners and recording equipment $12,000; programs, workshops and school visits $3,000; administration and audit $7,000; library space share, utilities and insurance $2,500.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $21,500 are paid once from startup funds: $4,200 for overhead book scanner and computer, $2,200 for audio recorders, microphones and a laptop for oral histories, $1,800 for archival storage supplies, $2,000 for digital storage and backup setup, $1,500 for legal review of donor and copyright forms, $1,800 for website, signs and program materials, and $8,000 set aside as working capital.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($21,500), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $4,000) and a cash cushion of about $18,500, which is about 3 months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $44,500. We start with $10,000 of our own savings and $40,000 from a local community foundation and the library's friends group, $50,000 in all, which covers that amount.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $73,000 in Year 1 to about $180,300 in Year 5. Grant revenue is planned at $62,000, $79,980, $102,300, $127,720 and $155,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows as sponsors and donors join. The program plans small deficits in the early years, covered by startup money, and surpluses once grants grow, about $2,400, $13,400, $23,400, $36,600 and $51,500 in Years 1 to 5, which we put into savings. The lowest year-end cash in the plan is about $39,600.

After the grant. After the grant period, the library plans to carry the program through its regular budget, county support, the friends group and individual donors. Digitized collections stay online, and equipment is owned by the library, so the program can continue at a smaller size if grant money ends. We do not expect to need this specific grant funding indefinitely.

Using the money well. We collect at least three quotes for any purchase over $1,000, pay vendors only against invoices and keep a written record of how each grant dollar was spent. We report to each funder on its schedule, share a plain results summary with the board and the community and tell funders early if something is not going as planned. A review each quarter compares the budget to real spending and decides what to change.

Risks:
- Grant funding may end. We build a base of local donors, a friends group and library budget support.
- The coordinator may leave. We write every procedure down and train two volunteers to run the lab.
- Demand may exceed capacity. We schedule by appointment and add a second station when volunteers are ready.
- Technology changes. We store files in open formats and migrate collections every few years.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this proposal:

- Your IRS determination letter showing 501(c)(3) status, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your board list and board minutes approving the application.
- Your most recent budget and financial statements.
- A list of other funders and what each has given or been asked to give.
- Signed consent and release form for oral histories and donated items.
- Letters of support from the school district, university archive and local historical society.
- Digitization and storage plan.
- Volunteer training outline.
- Quote for the scanner and recording equipment.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers:
- Grant Revenue: $62,000 in Year 1, growing to $155,000 in Year 5.
- Friends of the Library and Donations: $11,000 in Year 1, growing to $25,300 in Year 5.
- Staff pay is shown in the management section and includes payroll taxes and workers' compensation where staff are paid.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: archival materials, scanners and recording equipment $12,000, programs, workshops and school visits $3,000, administration and audit $7,000, library space share, utilities and insurance $2,500.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate.

Plain words used in this proposal:
- Digitization: turning a photograph or paper into a digital file.
- Oral history: a recorded interview with a person about their memories.
- Archival materials: acid-free folders and boxes that protect paper and photographs.
- Release form: a signed form that says how an item or recording may be used.
- Metadata: a short description of an item such as who, when and where.
- 501(c)(3): the tax status that lets a nonprofit receive tax-deductible gifts and many grants.

Startup Costs