Letter from Dennis Hays to Sharon Bulova: Economics of the Friends

Dear Sharon: 

Sorry to keep bothering you but the issue of accountability keeps coming up and I think it important you have an accurate picture of what the various parties involved contribute.      

• The Friends receive no cash or funding from the County.           
• The County does provide space to the Friends, which certainly has value.  
• In return, the Friends give the County hundreds of  thousands of dollars in direct and indirect support..    
• The County gets back at least six or seven times the value of all support provided to the Friends.           

Over the years the County has received millions of dollars of "free money" from the Friends.  The margins we produce are not possible under any other arrangement.  

BACKGROUND:  You may remember all of this started four years ago when the Friends asked for an audit of the Library Director's Gift Fund due to reported irregularities.   We have never received a response to this request.  Instead, the County turned around and initiated an attempt to audit the Friends!  This was dropped only when an attorney for the Friends hammered home that the County had no right to demand an audit of independent, 501 (c) 3 organizations.  

A year later came the initial attempt to unilaterally modify the MOU.  This fizzled when the Trustees were unable to say why the existing MOU wasn't serving all parties well and what the purpose of the new MOU would be.  

Now comes yet another attempt to intrude negatively on the Friends operations.   

The Economics of the Friends:  

The following pertains specifically to the operations of the Friends of the Reston Library.  Each Friends Group is different, of course, and there may be unique situations here and there, but in general all Friends Groups operate under similar circumstances.      

What the County Gives to the Friends:   In general, books discarded by the County are of zero value.  They tend to be soiled, torn, dog eared, outdated, missing pages, etc.   As a rule, we don't accept books from the County.  There are, however, a few excepts - occasionally we will accept a book, generally non-fiction in the categories of hard science (physics, math, biology) or history as these books (sadly) are rarely checked out and thus are in much better shape.  I wish to correct my statement in an earlier message that Reston sells no books from the County.  My apologies.   A more accurate statement would be we sell extremely few books originally purchased by the County.  The books received from the County contribute an amount of less than one third of one percent of our sales.

      

What the Friends Give to the County: It is important to note the public donates their books to the Friends, not the County.  Many of our books are collected directly from patrons' homes.  I know some dispute this, but this is at best a difference without a distinction as the books all go to supporting our common goal of helping the Library.  This is only an issue if someone wants it to be.  There is more to story, however - the County provides us with a list of desired titles (mostly popular current fiction) and we hunt down these titles, tidy them up, and give them to the County.   In fact, library staff are welcome to take desired volumes at any time, including in the middle of a sale.   Whatever the source, a donated book has an initial value of three to five cents (wholesalers pay two dollars for a large box of random books)   ALL of the subsequent increase in value is due to the work of the Friends.  

Space allocation:  Here the County does provide a vital service:  The Reston Friends occupy roughly 450 square feet of space in the Reston Library on a continuing basis.  Comparable space in Reston goes for between $2.00 and $2.50 a sq ft per month.  Taking a mid-point value of $2.25, the value of the space we occupy would be about $12,000 a year.

Return on Investment:  Last month we authorized over $70,000 in contributions to the Reston and Herndon libraries.   We sponsor speakers, put on children's programs, buy books, support English language training, purchase makerspace equipment, buy garden supplies, purchase furniture, pay for periodicals, put on SAT workshops, support the page program, provide budget supplements,  fund volunteer recognition, pay for library outreach materials, replace easels and carts, fund pre-school programs for children with sensory needs, provide educational opportunities to school aged children during holidays, supply bottled water service for the staff, etc. etc.  

Putting on a Sale:   Each year we hold two large general sales, two childrens' and young adults sales, a holiday sale, a puzzles and games sale and a mystery books sale.  Plus, of course, the ongoing sales.  We have a year round operation with hundreds of volunteers.  A very conservative estimate of the volunteer hours needed to accomplish all of this is between 5,000 and 6,000 hours.  The State of Virginia values volunteer service at $26.71 an hour. 

BOTTOM LINE:  ALL the flow of money goes FROM the Friends TO the County.  And we ask nothing in return other than some space to do our job.  

For over a year all we have asked to be treated as an equal partner - is that too much?  

 

 

Sincerely, Dennis Hays