Gale, A Cengage Company Financial Development Award

About the Gale, A Cengage Company Financial Development Award
An annual award consisting of $2,500 and a 24k gold-framed citation presented to a library organization to recognize an innovative, creative, well-organized project which successfully developed income from alternative sources. The alternative sources may include, but are not limited to: individual gifts, foundations, endowments, "challenge" grants, and related efforts.

Administered by:

American Library Association logo

2020 Winner(s)

Roxbury Public Library

Succasunna, New Jersey

The winning project was “Mini-Golf in the Library.” The original goal was to raise money to fund an upgrade of the library’s A/V equipment. In the second year of the project, funds enabled the library to update the Children’s Room furniture. Neither upgrade would have been possible within the existing operating budget cycles.

Library Director Radwa Ali explained that the upgrades were part of the library’s new strategic plan, to expand the caliber of programming. The library had never undertaken a dedicated fundraising event of this kind until the first Mini-Golf in 2018. Prior to that, the Friends of the Library raised money from a membership campaign and an annual book sale. Those funds support children’s and adult programming in the library