After its founding in 1983, the Foundation’s initial focus was to raise money each year to be fully awarded to the Mill Valley Public Library in the form of grants for programming and other services. However, in 1989 the Foundation determined that funding a long-term endowment to ensure library funding “in perpetuity” was preferable to short-term fundraising , and this became the focus of the Foundation’s fundraising through 2010. 

 

Beginning in 2011, the Foundation once again began to make annual grants to the library (on an individual project basis), while also continuing to grow the Endowment, with the stated goal of having the Endowment reach $2.3 million. This was the amount that the Foundation Board identified as the amount needed to allow a “crossover” to annual “block grant” endowment funding for the library, funded by a percentage of the Endowment’s previous 3 year-end balances. That goal was finally achieved in late 2018 (fiscal 2019). As a result, beginning in 2019, the Foundation has provided annual “block grants” to the library.  Click here to see the Foundation's Grant History.

 

The Foundation’s goal is to continue growing the endowment to provide funding for the library in perpetuity, ensuring the library remains a vital resource for generations to come.