Reserve Funds
Welcome
Community support is critical to our continued growth and vitality as a public resource. You can make a difference and help ensure a bright future for generations to come by making a gift to the Library. Please read on to learn more about how you can help.
How the Library is Funded
The Lewes Public Library is an “independent library” within the Delaware Division of Libraries consortium. As such, the Library must raise over half of its annual operating funds each year. The Library has two sources of government funding: Sussex County and the State of Delaware. The remaining funds needed each year must be raised through our own efforts of soliciting grants and donations, collecting fines and fees, and holding fundraising events, as well as through the efforts of the Friends of Lewes Public Library.
What are Reserve Funds?
Our long-term reserves form a durable fund. The Library Board of Commissioners allocates funds as needed to support necessary operating expenses. In addition, the Board has established a separate capital reserve to provide for long-term capital maintenance and improvement needs for the new library-owned facility.
- Give online.
- Cash Contributions – write a check payable to the Library, with “Reserve Funds” in the memo line. Then mail or drop it off at the Library.
- Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) – direct transfers of funds from your IRA custodian payable to a qualified charity. QCDs can be counted toward satisfying your required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the year. In addition to helping the library, the amount donated, up to $100,000 per tax year, is excluded from your taxable income.
- Gifts of Property – be more philanthropic than you thought possible while receiving significant tax savings.
- These may include securities, real estate and tangible property, such as artwork, books or equipment.
- Irrevocable gifts of real estate can allow you to enjoy your assets in your lifetime and gain a tax benefit today.
- Gifts of appreciated stock provide you with a double benefit – a charitable tax deduction for the full current market value and you won’t be subject to capital gains tax on the appreciation in value. Plus, you gain the satisfaction of helping the Library.
Information on how to complete a donation of stock may be found here.
Over the years, many patrons and supporters have remembered the Library as they prepare or revise their wills. Leave a legacy by naming the Library Reserve Funds as a beneficiary. Options include:
- Wills or other estate planning documents
- Charitable Trusts
- IRA or other qualified retirement plans
- Insurance policies
Individual donors may dictate the specific purpose/use for donations – which must be acceptable to the library.
The Gift and Donation Policy may be found here.
Donations of $25,000+ and/or bequests will be named in the Library’s Legacy Society.
For beneficiary designations, please use the legal name Lewes Public Library and the library’s federal tax ID #: 51-0350650. Thank you!
Do you have questions or need more information?
Please contact Rebecca Lowe, Library Development Director, at (302) 645-2733, ext. 4117 or by email.
The history of libraries in Lewes is long and rich. For the full story, read about Three Hundred Years of Generosity in Lewes.
