Our Future

The Baxter County Public Library has a rare opportunity to bring a significant educational, cultural,
and economic development asset to Baxter County. As a result of a very thorough, in-depth planning
process, the Baxter County Public Library Foundation has been invited
to submit an application for a Capital Grant in January 2008. Should a
Capital Grant for the new facility on Library Hill be awarded, it would fund construction costs, furnishings, and
equipment. To be funded, a project must demonstrate:
• An extraordinary potential for a transformational impact on the
organization and the community it serves, and
• Community support for a new Library by funding an endowment
to maintain the building.
The Library Foundation has launched a campaign in 2007 to build an endowment which will
demonstrate the required community support and enhance the chance of being awarded this
extremely competitive grant. Deborah Knox, Library Board Chair and Foundation Trustee, will lead
the campaign to enlist the commitment of friends, family, civic leaders, and citizens to support the
growth of this vital community resource through a personal contribution to the Library Foundation.
Momentum is building toward the goal
of this campaign. The following list of
assets represents a number of gifts that
have already demonstrated significant
community support for building a new
Library in Baxter County:
• 1.3 acre gift from the Skeet family
representing a value of $120,000
• $25,000 endowment at Twin Lakes
Community Foundation
• $100,000 with the Library Board from
bequests preceding the Foundation
• $450,000 from previous bequests to
purchase Library Hill
• $25,800 donations for magazine subscriptions,
memorials, honorariums, etc.
• $395,000 from Busse bequest
• $45,000 from Westphal bequest
• $40,000 from anonymous bequest
• $500,000 estimated value of current West Seventh Street building and land owned by the Library as
a result of 54 years of community support
The Library Foundation Trustees, the Library Board and staff, and the Friends of the Library are
honored by the invitation to submit a Capital Grant proposal to fund a new Library, and are dedicated to the responsibility of successfully completing the challenge
of raising an endowment to qualify for this competitive award.