Charity begins...

One of the new initiatives of the Provincial Government outlined in the recent Speech from the Throne relates to Charitable Giving:

"Albertans value compassion and they take pride in coming together to volunteer time and money to help others in need.

"Reflecting these values, the Government of Alberta will lead the creation of a Community Spirit Program for Charitable Giving.

"The program will support increases for private charitable donations through tax credits and establish a Community Spirit Fund to provide matching grants for eligible donations to Alberta-based registered charities."

Charitable giving includes gifts to agencies and initiatives in the entire range of community activities: social services, health, education, culture.  And don't forget libraries.  Red Deer Public Library is a registered charity under the Income Tax Act.  Thus, if you make a donation of cash or a donation in kind, we'll give you a Charitable Tax Receipt.

We want, though, to go beyond one-time donations for one-time expenditures.  I read the other day that the Endowment of Harvard University is valued at $25.9 billion.  If we can create a fund like that (or a tad smaller - say $5 million), we would have a significant source of sustainable, non-tax generated funds to enhance our library programs, collections and services.

We have the beginning of such an endowment, in the John & Margaret Dickson Public Library Fund of the Red Deer & District Community Foundation.  This fund was begun with a contribution of $240,000 from the Dickson Bequest, to an open fund of the Community Foundation.  The interest from this fund comes every year to RDPL, to be used for programs and services that benefit teens in the Library.  Since this is an open fund, you can add your own donation to the Dickson Fund (or to the Helen Dawe Memorial Fund, which provides money each year for books on classical music; or to the Olsen Memorial Fund, which funds an important Children's Author visit to Red Deer every second year).  That contribution will benefit the Library and the community each and every year.

We look forward to the new provincial Community Spirit Fund, which looks like it will provide significant leverage for the dollars that our community members give to library initiatives.

For more information on how you can help us build a legacy fund, please contact me - Dean Frey, Library Director, at 403-342-9102, or email me at dfrey [at] rdpl [dot] org.

One final, important point: the Friends of the Library also have Registered Charitable Status, so you can receive a tax receipt from them for a contribution.