1. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Make an Investment in Your Community’s Future
And Join Your Neighbors in Giving Generously to the Friends of the Library
YES! I want to affirm my commitment to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library with my gift of
$25 $50 $100 $250 $500 $1,000 Other $_________
I have enclosed a check payable to Friends of the Library.
Please charge my credit card: Visa MC Discover AmEx
Charge amt: $_____________ Card #: ________________________________________________
Exp. date: ________________ Signature: ______________________________________________
I have enclosed my company’s matching gift form.
Please contact me about providing for the Library in my will/estate.
Donate online at
cmlibrary.org/DonateNow
Email address: ________________________________________________________________________
With your help,
we're not only
building your Library
of the future,
but
your community
of the future.
cmlibrary.org/DonateNow
Email is a cost-efficient way for us to communicate with you. By providing your email address, we'll be able to send you updates on how your gift is
making a difference at the Library.Your privacy is important to us.The Library will never give your email address or other personal information to anyone.
Your gift is tax deductible to
the full extent of the law.We will
send a receipt for your records.
All contributions to the Friends of the Library are tax deductible.
Your support will tell
a story for years to come…
Mrs. Jean Prospect
1234 Providence Road
Charlotte, NC 28211
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Dear Mrs. Prospect,
You can look up the statistics – but today we’d like you to hear about how your
generosity will support more than numbers.
You know the value of the Library. A recent survey told us that nearly all of
Mecklenburg Country residents agree that your Library is a valuable educational
resource. We ask you to reaffirm that value today with a contribution. And consider
something that the survey didn’t say:
“If it wasn’t for the staff at the library, I wouldn’t have been successful in
reaching my goals.”
This comes from Kevin, our patron and your neighbor, who told us he uses the
Library usually 4 times a week for about 2 hours each visit. He uses our resources
for job assistance and to look up necessary legal information. He uses computers,
books, and the expertise of our staff. He said he knows many people that need the
convenience of a library nearby and the resources they offer.
So we talked to other people, because we thought you’d like to know more of the
people – neighbors in your community – that your gift today will help:
“You know, not everyone has access to a book or a computer at home,” said a
patron that uses the Library to study and assist others with school work. Your Library
provides more access to those who need it the most: we have expanded hours at all
our regional branches to better accommodate patrons that have nowhere else to go
for information of all kinds.
“The children seem more eager to want to try to read as a result of the Summer
Reading Program,” said a facilitator at one of your Library’s outreach programs for
Summer Reading. More than 17,000 students participated in summer reading this
year – meaning that the break in school, which usually costs students academic gains
they’ve received the previous year, may have increased success in school by allowing
some students to come into the year ahead of where they should be.
“Story-time: it’s not just sitting down…they play and sing. It really engages
the kids and gets them interested in reading,” says the mother of a 3-year-old
early literacy patron. At all branches we continue to provide storytelling, guidance,
continued on back
P
Mrs. Jean Prospect
1234 Providence Road
Charlotte, NC 28211

2. Friends of the Library – Membership/Donor Giving Levels and Associated Benefits
All contributions to the Friends of the Library are tax deductible.
friend
$25 – $99
sustaining friend
$100 – $249
bibliophile
$250 – $499
literary circle
$500 – 999
carnegie circle
$1000+
– Special “Friend” sticker
for your library card
– Admission to “First
Friends”, opening
night of Friends
annual book sale
– Before mentioned plus
– Friends’ Discount Card,
with special discounts
from select local
businesses
– Before mentioned plus
– Invitations to special
receptions or other
opportunities
– Name Recognition
on a bookplate in the
Library’s collection
– Before mentioned plus
– Name recognition as
“Day Sponsor” for a
Library program
– Before mentioned plus
– Name recognition as “Day Sponsor” for at
least 2 library programs
– Invitation to annual Carnegie Circle event and
other special opportunities
– Your name listed on the Library’s and Friends’
web pages of sponsors supporters
please note: Contributors of any amount will receive acknowledgement and appreciation for your support, as well as E-news updates for Library supporters.
outreach programs and early literacy instruction tools that cannot be found anywhere else. The Library is a crucial part
of strengthening early literacy success in Mecklenburg County.
“This is a one-stop shop: you can apply for a job, create a resume, and find a book about the job…where else
can you do that?,” asks a Job Help Center patron. At your Main Library, the Job Help Center not only assists your
neighbors in applying for jobs, but also in creating resumes, learning valuable computer skills, and in every other
aspect of the career search process – all critical to building the workforce of your community.
This means that your gift to Friends of the Library today – in which every dollar you give yields a direct return of
over 300% – won’t just produce the good statistics for your Library of the future: that gift will in fact be building and
supporting your community of the future. Won’t you give today so this community will be that much closer to fruition?
“We check out at least 10 books every time we come here,” says a mother of 2 young patrons who love books
and visit the Library at least once a week. Your help will be essential in making sure that plenty of books and other
materials, which have suffered set-backs in past budget cuts, are available for the educational needs of your neighbors.
In the Library, we call the area that books and computers fall under “Basic Library Services.” To you and your
neighbors these are essential library services – without them, all the other community building actions you just read
about could not exist. Your gift today will in part go to these services and make sure that the shelf-life of our materials
can keep up with the needs of your community.
You’ve heard it from those whose lives are being changed: The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library plays an
essential part in the education of your community, for your neighbors of all ages. Without your support of the Friends,
we lose opportunities to improve lives and have a lasting impact. Please give now to benefit the community you live in
today – and the one that you’ll want to hear from tomorrow.
Thank you,
J. Vick Phillips
Chief Executive Officer
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
P.S. Affirm your commitment to our community’s future with a financial gift to the Friends today.
For your added convenience, donate anytime online at www.cmlibrary.org/DonateNow.
Library Board of Trustees
Robin Branstrom, Chair
Robert Sink, Vice Chair
Charles Bowman
E. Reneé Casali
Molly Griffin
Gloria Kelley
Magdalena Maiz-Peña
Joan Martin
Sally Robinson
Darrel Williams
Ed Williams