Donations

Looking to donate books? See the Friends of the Library donation guidelines.

Hear from the Director

Learn about the Library Foundation

The South Burlington Library Foundation, a 501c3 organization, was created in 2018 for the sole purpose of receiving, managing, and investing contributions, gifts, and bequests exclusively for the benefit of South Burlington Public Library and in support of its charitable, literary, cultural, educational, social, and other purposes as prioritized by the Library's Board of Trustees. Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law and monetary donations are held in accounts maintained by the Foundation for the sole use of the Library until such time as disbursement is approved by the Foundation, the Trustees and/or the Library Director.

The Foundation’s initial project is the ASPIRE Capital Campaign!
Contact us at info@southburlingtonlibraryfoundation.org

Pay online, or, checks may be mailed to:
South Burlington Library Foundation
P.O. Box 2161
South Burlington, VT 05407

Planned Giving: The Paul O. Blanchette Society

OUR LIBRARY HAS A LONG HISTORY OF PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORT. In our very first year of operation in the high school, citizens contributed books and funding, hosted a tea to benefit the library, and volunteered to help with operations. Over the years, community members made generous gifts for specific needs, and children and adults stuffed bills and coins to a “dream jar” on the counter for a new library building. Today, the Friends of the South Burlington Public Library organization continues to hold book sales and events to fund programs and maintain our collections. And as we planned a new facility in City Center, we established the South Burlington Library Foundation (SBLF) and launched the ASPIRE! capital campaign to ensure our new library is all that it can be.

At the heart of the capital campaign is a generous bequest from Paul O. Blanchette, a career librarian from Washington, D.C., who moved to South Burlington in the 1970s to care for his father. A frequent user of the library, he envisioned a new, stand-alone library for our community and made plans for a gift to help make that possible in his will. Received in 1996, his bequest makes up nearly a third of our philanthropic goal for our new space.

“He was a real scholar and a lovely gentleman,” a library staff member said of Mr. Blanchette in an article in the Other Paper at the time his gift was received. His foresight has had an incredible impact on bringing us to this moment. 

Can the South Burlington Public Library be a part of your legacy?
As you consider supporting the library’s efforts today and in the future, please give thought to adding a bequest to the South Burlington Library Foundation (for the benefit of the South Burlington Public Library) to a will, revocable trust, or beneficiary designation which may be part of your estate plan. Your gift may create or add to an endowment that will forever sustain and make the library’s resources available to our community. It may be used to advance an aspect of the library’s mission or be allocated to our most pressing needs and opportunities at the time it is received — you would select what is most meaningful to you and your family. 

There are many ways to make a planned gift to the library, including designating a specific amount or a percentage of your estate. You may make the library a beneficiary of a trust or life insurance policy, or make arrangements to transfer tangible property. Your planned gift would be designated to the South Burlington Library Foundation, which is a charitable organization set up to exclusively support the South Burlington Public Library. 

A bequest may enable you to make a more substantial gift to your community than is possible during your lifetime, and it may lessen estate tax burdens on your family. Most importantly, it will forever add to your legacy by helping the library improve and change lives. 

Celebrating our partnership
To recognize and celebrate those who have included the South Burlington Library Foundation in their estate plan, we are launching the Paul O. Blanchette Society. You will be invited to participate in special events at the library, and if you wish, you will be recognized as a member of the society on a plaque at the library as well as in fundraising and other materials. 

Please consult with your estate planning counsel or other trusted advisors to determine how a bequest to the South Burlington Library Foundation best fits into your estate plan.

South Burlington Library Foundation
ASPIRE Case Statement
South Burlington Library Foundation Acceptance of Gifts Policy