Communication Audit

Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation

Gabrielle Marino, JoJo Drake, Devin Simpson, Katherine Michael, Alex Richardson
Background
The Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation was established in 1997 to support and enrich
the capabilities, resources, and services of the Chapel Hill Public Library. The foundation
focuses on fundraising and advocacy with a focus on large donations, is governed by a volunteer
Board of Directors and an independent contractor who provides executive leadership.
Original assets for the foundation came from the Cornelia Spencer Love Trust, which as
established in 1982 and managed by the Town of Chapel Hill before the foundation stepped in.
Cornelia Spencer Love was instrumental in founding the Chapel Hill Public Library in a small
house in downtown Chapel Hill in 1958, and in the 1960s, she donated private funds to help
build a library on Franklin Street. Love died in 1981 and left an estate gift of $350,000 for the
library. Today the Love Trust has assets of approximately $1.4 million and has contributed over
$2.3 million to the Chapel Hill Public Library.
In addition to over 10,000 items for the Opening Day Collection in its expanded space,
the Foundation has provided funding for the following enhancements: non-print collection
materials, including audio-books, CDs, DVDs, e-books, e-audiobooks, and e-readers, childrens
literacy stations and interactive digital learning programs, and interactive resources for teens. In
addition, they have also provided, digital media lab with training opportunities, electronic
reference databases, furnishings and art for new children and teen areas, purchase and
installation of an automated book handler.

The foundations primary mode of communication is their website, which is extremely

outdated, wordy, and not very user-friendly. Important information is difficult to find. There are
too many tabs, and some of the information is repetitive. As a reader, it is easy to glance through
the information without having any actual desire to read it. The foundation also has brochures on
hand in the library, but they no longer hand them out because they are from an old campaign
which focused on building the new library. These brochures are also wordy, and not very
appealing to the eye. They have no print materials that detail their current goals and projects, or
that could be a quick handout to visitors interested in learning how to donate or why they should
donate. The foundation only has a facebook page, that is updated around once a month.
However, the page only has 182 likes, so it reaches a very small audience. Comparatively, the
Chapel Hill Public Library page has almost 2,000 likes and updates almost daily.
Strengths
It is important for the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation to realize and capitalize on
their strengths in their business. Some of the Foundations strengths include their skills for
communication and innovation, and the library itself. As far as communication, the Foundation
operates out of the library building so the flow of communication between the Foundation and
the library is quick and easy, allowing them to collaborate effectively with the library and create
an impressive relationship. To communicate with the public, the Foundations website is simple,
and the given labels provide many avenues for visitors to the site to find information. The
donate now button is at the top of every page, making it visible and easy to access for those
who want to donate online, which is the most important goal for the Foundation. They also have
created innovative ways to connect with their stakeholders, with elaborate events that not only
allow Foundation members to come together to celebrate what the Foundation has done, but also

to donate even more to help the Foundation with future projects. Events like their Mystery in
the Stacks or the Casino Royale night provide indulgent evenings for donors to feel appreciated
as well as needed, and the Foundation uses these events to maintain and improve relationships
with these key stakeholders.
The library is also a strength for the Foundation, Without a strong public library to serve,
the Foundation would not be able to campaign for donations as well as they do right now. The
library has one of the highest circulation rates in North Carolina, and is an extremely popular hub
for the Chapel Hill community. People often use the library to hold meetings, do research, create
various media projects, and even as a place for homeschooled children and their parents to meet
and have fun during the day. Having all the resources that the library has to offer allows the
Foundation to go above and beyond for their stakeholders, and for their own goals of serving the
library.
Weaknesses
As with any organization, there are aspects of the Foundation that could be improved
upon. Fortunately, the Foundations weaknesses are not insurmountable. They do, however,
inhibit the Foundation from reaching their fundraising potentials. These potentials include
acquiring new donors, securing larger donations from previous donors and locking in donors for
the long term. The weaknesses span from the website, to the overall message, to deliverables, to
internal struggles.
The website is probably the biggest single weakness. First, it could be much more user
friendly. The easier it is for a user to navigate the website, the less time it takes for a potential
donor to figure out how to donate. The foundation is far more likely to secure a new donor when
donating is quick and effortless. The site as it is currently set-up is is likely deterring users from

donating. A site that is better organized and structured in a more intuitive way could help
facilitate the best possible user experience, increasing the likelihood of a donation. Second, the
website could be more aesthetically pleasing. The home page is the first thing users see and it
needs to effectively engage and entice the users, which it could definitely do more effectively.
For instance, the picture currently being used on the front home page could be of a far better
quality; it is blurry and pixelated. Third, the website would also greatly benefit from the use of
more graphics and visuals and less words. This would enhance the type of user interaction with
the site. Last, the Foundation should consider the fact that its website garners little traffic. This
is a weakness that very much needs to be addressed.
The remainder of the weaknesses cover a broad scope. One major weakness is a need for
the Foundation to re-craft its message both on the Foundation website as well as on their
brochure. Currently, the messages is hyper-focused and almost over details the methods for
giving. Instead, the message should be more focalized and emphasize why someone should give
to the Foundation and the profact impact a donation can and will have. Another weakness
affecting the ease at which the Foundation acquires donors is the fact that the Foundation does
not currently have a more refined physical prospectus to give to potential donors. Such a
prospectus would include all the many options a donor has for giving. It would also include a
one-sheet summary of the Foundation and how important private donations are. A rather large
weakness the foundation has to combat, is the lack of cohesiveness between the Chapel Hill
Library, the Foundation, and the Friends of the Library and each of their deliverables. While they
are all three separate entities with separate mission statements and different ideas of how to
achieve their goals, they are all working towards the same goal: maintaining an excellent library
for the town of Chapel Hill. The weakness lies in the fact that their is no cohesion amongst each

of the three entities color schemes and or logos. More interconnectivity between these three
bodies would make it easier for the public to understand the functionality of having the three
different entities. The final weakness can be attributed to an internal struggle within the
organization amongst members of the governing body. Director of the Foundation, Hollie RoseGalli, has mentioned how the Foundations board has been lately struggling with coming to a
consensus regarding the vision for the Foundation and how that vision will be achieved.
Opportunities
The Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation has successfully served the Library for 20
years, creating a vital community resource. Despite the Foundations numerous achievements,
there are still opportunities for the organization to improve. The Foundation was created to
increase private donations to ensure the long-term, financial independence of the Library. The
content the Foundation shares on its website and materials highlight how patrons can donate,
without giving them a clear reason as to why they should. Content that underscores the local
communitys need for the Library would clarify why the Foundation is needed in the first place.

This shift in perspective could be made easily to the Foundations FAQs on its website.
People are more likely to donate to the Foundation if they can relate to the work the Library is
doing. Simplifying the FAQs and making them more personable would help achieve this goal.
Questions and answers should identify who the Library serves and how vital it's free resources
and services are too the community. For example, there is a societal misconception that libraries
are out of date and unused. However, this could not be further from the truth since over 1,400
patrons visit the Chapel Hill Public Library each day. As the busiest Library in North Carolina,
donations are key to its continuous growth. This is the kind of information that potential donors

want to know and should be able to see quickly on the Foundations FAQ. Once people see why
they should donate, they can learn how to donate.
Getting donors engaged and connected with the Library is the best way to increase
Foundation donations. Human interest stories about how the local community has benefited from
the Library would show prospective donors why the Library is so important to the local
community. Potential donors have the option to give to endless tax-deductible, non-profits.
Creating a personal connection with prospective donors and the community the Library serves
makes them more likely to give to the Foundation. Such action by the Foundation would bridge
the current emotional gap between donors and the Library.
Threats
Misconceptions about the library and its funding create a serious problem for the
foundation. To the general public, public libraries are ran by the local government through their
taxes. The misconception is that the library would not need any additional funding from
community members because their taxes pay for it anyway. Though this is partially true, taxes
only serve to keep the library open. This myth can be particularly detrimental to the foundations
efforts because it will deter potential donors. In order to provide the Chapel Hill community with
the resources it needs, the library requires additional funding. The foundation exists to help
provide the library with those extra funds and resources. The foundation has to find ways to alert
potential donors of the librarys needs and lack of funding to fulfill those needs.
Another threat is competition. Nonprofits exist for every single cause, ranging from
chronic illnesses, disorders, social justice issues and foundations. All nonprofits, regardless of
their cause, are striving for the same goal: to raise money for their cause or campaigns. This
creates a great deal of competition. People generally have passion areas when it comes to

nonprofits because even wealthy people can not give to every nonprofit or cause. The foundation
has to find a way to overcome this competition. They have to appeal to potential donors and
make them want to donate to the library instead of other nonprofits.
Recommendations
One of our most repeated recommendations is that the foundation could do a better job of
pointing to and highlighting specific examples of items or services they have provided for the
library. One of the most popular items right now is the automated book handler. This device is
important because it sorts books as they are returned, freeing up three staff members to help
visitors on the library floor. The device is affectionately referred to as the bookie monster, and
has a window where children can watch the machine work and feed it coins. The foundation
could highlight this contribution with a fun video, showing the children interacting with the
machine, highlighting the importance of the machine, and discussing how exactly the foundation
contributed to something that is now vital to the daily function of the library.
Another recommendation for the Foundation is for them to increase the amount of events
they hold that are open to the public. The Foundation entirely depends on private donations to do
their job, so they could benefit from holding more events that could be open to all people in the
Chapel Hill area, not only those that have an existing relationship with the Foundation. Doing so
could raise awareness for the Foundation, as well as potentially increase the number of private
donations they receive each year. The Chapel Hill Public Library is already a wonderful hub for
the community, but many people dont know that the Foundation has provided the funds to make
many of the librarys amenities possible. Hosting more public events could improve the
Foundations relationship with the Chapel Hill community and allow them to better serve the
library.