Episode 17: A Capital Campaign Journey

Please note: This is an AI generated transcription. There may be slight grammatical errors, spelling errors and/or misinterpretation of words. 

Speaker: Hello, and welcome to Mission and Markets, a podcast by CAPTRUST, where we explore trends and best practices for endowments and foundations related to mission engagement, fiduciary governance, and investment management. Hosted by CAPTRUST’s Heather Shanahan, each episode shares research, resources, and recommendations from industry insiders. So your nonprofit can focus on what’s most important, the mission.

Heather Shanahan: Hello; welcome to this month’s Mission and Markets. My name is Heather Shanahan and I’m your host and today I am joined by Charity Tyler of the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation. So Charity, welcome. Delighted to have you join us today and share your story with us. So for our audience, would you be willing just to tell us a little bit about you and your background and about the

Charity Tyler: Absolutely. Charity Tyler, I am the executive director for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Public Library Foundation. I live in Cedar Rapids with my husband and three very active kiddos, and really began working in nonprofits when I was in college, and have been an active fundraiser in the community for more than 20 years.

I began with the Library Foundation in 2015. At the time, I was charged with transitioning our organization from one that had only supported book purchases. So people would write the library foundation a check, and we would just write a check to the library, right? So complete pass throughs, and then capital projects.

And so my task was to transition them to annual fundraising, and annual funding, and determine that we exist as the philanthropic vehicle to support innovative programs and services within our library, which is a city department. So it’s taxpayer dollars, but what is the role of philanthropy within that?

So now we are working on collection development that includes digital collections, digital resources, but also a lot of other innovative programs throughout the community.

Heather Shanahan: That’s excellent. Let’s talk a little bit about Cedar Rapids, Iowa, can you tell us about, you know, the philanthropic environment there? Maybe some background on this project.

Charity Tyler: So Cedar Rapids, we’re the second-largest urban area in the state of Iowa. We have about 130, 000 residents within our city limits. However, within the greater metro area or within the region, there’s About 250, 000 residents. on the workforce side of things, we have a very heavy presence of industry.

We have, cornstarch plants and equipment manufacturing, but we also have a lot of aerospace technology, and innovation going on. We have two regional medical facilities. We are just 30 minutes from the University of Iowa who has its own medical facility. So we do have quite a diverse community. The thing that is key to our project really, goes back way, way, literally for generations because our city is divided by a river. The Cedar River. And so there’s an east side, west side, and, on the west side has traditionally been where all the industry is.

So the plants, the, factories, the warehouses, manufacturing on the east side of the river has been the hospitals and the colleges. We’re a city of only, you know, 130, 000, but we have two four-year institutions in town. We have the largest community college in the state here.

We have two other four-year institutions within 20 30 minutes. Highly diverse community, but there’s this east side west side pull that has been a very interesting road to navigate because we’re trying to build a new library facility on the west side of Cedar Rapids.

Heather Shanahan: Well, that’s helpful background for sure. [00:04:00] So our story today is a story of a capital campaign journey. And that really represents the evolution of a giving strategy. So where did you start and what were your expectations regarding how you thought things would go?

Charity Tyler: Oh goodness. So we started with all the dreams. The name of the campaign is literally Inspiring Big Dreams because the Westside Library that we have today is a leased space, it’s small for the community that we serve, and we really knew that we needed to do that. Get a larger facility. We needed to be outside of a lease space.

We needed to have our own building. But I shared with you that, kind of culture, environment, the west side versus the east side. You know, west side is the best side, but east side is the philanthropy, and where all the money is. That underlining feeling, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s fact, but it’s that underlying environment that we’ve been working through.

We’ve known that we’ve needed a new building. We’ve needed a new facility and the lease is done in 2027 and the. Pandemic hit. So what do you do when you have no money and you don’t know what the future is? And we were really blessed to receive a nearly two-million-dollar estate gift. That the library foundation dedicated to a new permanent Westside library, and we started going through all the motions and visiting with stakeholders, making sure the city was involved right away, just to let them know what we wanted to do.

We didn’t know that we could do it yet. We knew that we had the money, but we didn’t know anything about what we were going to do engaging the county engage all the other community partners, users, influencers, philanthropists, all of those individuals in 2021 to make sure that everyone knew what we were trying to accomplish and what the goals were and the why behind it, because we already have a library.

Why do we need a new one? We had to overcome a lot of, those types of objections and, do the research so that we understood what our story needed to be. And understood the reasons that we are moving forward, that we will be doing this, that we are literally in the process of doing it today, but making sure that, this is a location that, will serve our community for generations to come.

So how far apart are the two libraries then? What’s the distance between the new site and the existing one on the east side?

The Eastside Library is right downtown. We’re just a few blocks off the river. We’re a 104, 000 square foot library space. We are three stories. And the third story is actually an outdoor programmatic space. And it is, really that central location. What we did not have was that west side location and we experienced a flood in 2008 that, devastated our downtown community and took most city departments offline because everyone was located downtown.

We had to relocate to the west side of town in an old drugstore in a mall, and in doing so, our library gained thousands of new cardholders. We also were able to take a deep dive into that neighborhood. It’s called the Westdale neighborhood. And as our new downtown location, this is not the one that flooded. It’s a brand new location. As it got online, we knew that we couldn’t leave those families on the Westdale neighborhood that did not have the means to get downtown. It’s only about five miles, but still, it’s downtown.

So this new location, that was opened in 2013, is a leased space again, the lease is coming up.

It’s only 15,000 square feet of public space, and we’re serving more than 140, 000 people annually in that building. And we only have one program room

So we know we need to do more. So the location that we’ve identified is less than a mile from the current location. So we really are still in the heart of that neighborhood. when we did that, Deep dive into who our library patrons are. Many of them are from that neighborhood, but now we know that it’s the highest population of children under five. It’s the highest population of single heads of households, the highest population of single parent households, highest population non-English speaking. So those are the things that we really had to determine and identify so that we could begin telling the story to convince people it was a worthwhile investment.

Heather Shanahan: So you talk about fact finding. did you actually engage a professional firm as you got started? And did you conduct any type of feasibility study before launching the campaign? Formally,

Charity Tyler: The library had to do its due diligence, right? What will it cost to build a library? And what is the right size of it? Is it going to be another hundred thousand square foot building? No, but what is the right size? So They engaged their professionals. We took that information, which at the time, was a 35 million project for 40, 000 square foot space with an 18 million capital campaign.

Heather Shanahan: Geez.

Charity Tyler: And so that’s what we tested.we got a lot of feedback on that. People had huge opinions on an 18 million campaign and a 35 million library, right? So we had to explain to them, we’re testing this because we want your feedback. We’re testing the highest possible dollar numbers. To see what the right size really is.

So everyone was really honest with us and, we right sized it with the help of the feasibility study to a 25 million project, and now it’s a 10 million capital campaign. And we did launch the quiet phase in, Early 2023 and within, three months, we had raised nearly a million dollars and then, kind of stalled a little bit

Heather Shanahan: We even got a challenge grant, a six figure, seven figure challenge grant, but–

Charity Tyler: We all know that development in itself has its cycles and its, ups and its downs. But when you are located, in the Midwest where you have snowbirds in the winter and then many of those same snowbirds then go even further north in the summer because they don’t want the humidity, right?

2023 was very active, us putting our heads down, us getting as many meetings as we could just to tell people about the project, but not necessarily getting any answers or results from donors at that point in time. It was quite an educational experience, Heather.

Heather Shanahan: Yeah. So you’ve had some challenges for sure. It sounds like, you know, when you look back, is there anything you would have done differently?

Charity Tyler: Yes. This is a little bit of a unicorn of a project anyway, and the reason I say that is I’ve already referenced the point in time, during which we were, really pursuing it was a difficult time, for everyone, right, whether it’s economics or cost of construction. what that also allowed us to take advantage of, however, was the American Rescue Plan Act funding.

And so 10 million of this 25 million project, they are funds, 6 million from the city, 4 million from the county, with American Rescue Planet dollars. And with those funds and accepting those funds, there is a deadline.

Heather Shanahan: Hmm.

Charity Tyler: That deadline is that the project be 100 percent completed and open to the public before December 31st, 2026. It would have been so nice to not have that pressure and to be able to really not feel like you’re noses to the grindstone every single day. So not having the pressure, not having those deadlines and those timelines would have been beautiful.

I think another thing I probably would have asked a lot more questions of the fundraising consultant that we had engaged because they did stay on, for the first six months of the quiet phase of the campaign, and, I think if I had done better, due diligence on my part, or just ask more questions, and, admittedly, I was distracted because I had my head down.

I’m a staff of two FTE development professionals, right? So that’s something for the next time we’re doing this. I now know what questions I’m going to ask.

Heather Shanahan: Yeah, it’s a heavy lift. What’s worked well?

Charity Tyler: You know, the storytelling, has been amazing. We really did a great job right off the bat. We were very intentional, both library foundation and library leadership, whether it’s the trustee leadership of the board or the leadership and staff, we were very intentional with engaging.

And keeping informed all of the community stakeholders that we had identified early on. That’s all of the elected officials. That is, people who are with the economic alliance, which is what we call our chamber, right? Letting everyone know. And we’re doing it, letting everyone know the details, letting everyone know what the messages are that we would like them to share with others, because we knew that there would be rumblings, there would be misinformation.

On the other side of it, these influencers and community leaders, leaders of global companies, quite literally, I know they were in meetings talking about the project and singing its praises and telling the story in front of other business leaders and they wanted to make sure everyone in the room knew about it. So those are things that those relationships that we built early on helped us overcome a lot of the chatter and misinformation early on and throughout the process and it created champions and advocates who are proud, to share and in the end, many of them introduced us to other donors. Many of them came through with their own gifts. It’s really that relationship building piece and telling the stories has really been helpful and successful for us.

Heather Shanahan: That’s excellent. So you’ve had some challenges of wanting to respect donors wishes, but then needing to balance what’s workable for you and for the library. How do you navigate those conversations?

Charity Tyler: Well, this has been, not quite trial by fire, Heather, but it is, I am the library foundation. I am a separate 501c3. I do not have control over how the library building is designed and what amenities will be included in the library.

We laugh and we say, they don’t tell me how to fundraise and I don’t tell them how to library. But the relationships that we have with our architects and our designers has been amazing. They are proud to be part of this project. They understand the impact that it will have on this community, and they understand the pressure that the Library Foundation is under to get 10 million secured. As soon as possible. So when I had donors tying, recognition to a specific request within the building, rather than saying, Nope, we don’t do that and giving them all the reasons why we don’t do that.

I went to the architects, I went to the designers and I said, Hey, We are a public entity. we’re not even a non profit, right? It’s not another charity that they’re giving this money to. It’s to a public institution, a public building. And so we have to have design standards. We have to have signage standards. And I said, so you understand what these standards are. Can you mock something up for me? And so within a few days, I was able to say, thank you so much for sharing that. And we were able to send them something that was acceptable to us. But we hoped that it would still meet their needs for recognition. And so what we were able to do is show them their name on the room, right? Show them what that’s going to look like. And, once they were satisfied, giving them that power, meeting their needs, addressing their concerns, because these are significant gifts they’re making.

They’re philanthropic naming gifts, and we want to honor them. but we need to do it in a way that’s respectful to the institution that they’re supporting as well.

It actually resulted in a significantly larger gift. I think they saw that we could do it and that we were always responsive. I don’t think I ever actually told them no. I just showed them what we can do for them and that it worked out really well and we’re really, really grateful for their investment and we know they’re excited too.

Heather Shanahan: A great story. Yeah. And anytime you can say, and instead of, but, it is always beneficial. That’s great.

Charity Tyler: It’s what we’ve been trying to do.

Heather Shanahan: So you’ve ended up getting creative at the end. please tell us about your new giving society and how does this new group allow you to leverage your story?

Charity Tyler: There are women that have impacted our library and shaped our library from the time that it was founded 126 years ago. The founder, she was a suffragist, so she was lobbying for the women’s right to vote, which they won in 1895, and so in 1896, she got the free public library on the ballot.

Literally organized hundreds of other women to do jam sales and dances or whatnot, right?

And the ballot measure passed by 51 votes. So it was the women that really allowed this public library to happen. There are other women that have impacted this library, its 126-year history. And so we created the Wise Women’s Circle. giving us an opportunity for the women of Cedar Rapids today to share that legacy by creating this Westside Library that will be equally transformational for this community.

We only had 23 members when we launched in January of 2024. Those, 23 members, made up about 700, 000 in investments.

Heather Shanahan: Substantial.

Charity Tyler: So today we have 60 members of the Wise Women’s Circle representing well over 2. 5 million. There are still gifts that I can’t tell you about, right?

Cause we’re not on ink yet. We don’t have it, but it’s women who have given 10, 000 or more to the project and they are proud. And they tell their friends. And that also has been something that, has been really great. It’s given us another opportunity to get in front of new people that have not traditionally been Library Foundation donors.

Because they want to be part of the circle. They want to be part of a transformational project. And that really helped energize, us as we approach the finish line.

Heather Shanahan: What a great story. Kind of a nice segue to my next question. How have you, in your words, reached donors’ heartstrings? I think that’s a phrase you like to use. How do you reach donors’ heartstrings around this cause?

Charity Tyler: For years we’ve engaged library staff in sharing the stories of the patrons they serve. And by doing so, we learn more about how we’re meeting community needs, but we also have real life anecdotes to share in community conversations, whether it’s me presenting to a rotary group or me sitting down with a new donor.

One of the staff members worked with a gentleman weekly for 18 months as he tried to get his wife and two children to the United States. He was an immigrant from Africa and he had come over and he was trying to get his family weekly. And they came and she got to meet our library staff and we got to meet the kids, right? That is an impactful story.

We have another gentleman who was injured in his warehousing job. And needed to figure out how to make money to continue to support his family, and we connected him with a, truck driving program at the local community college. And now he’s earning more money than he was in his warehousing job, and he’s home at night because he’s not working the night shift. He’s just driving truck during the day. So being able to share those stories is one piece of it.

Another piece is really talking about the community that we’re serving. So talking about the neighborhood, which I already shared some information on with regard to the children under five and then, and the single heads of household, and then also the immigrant community, the largest population of non-English-speaking individuals in our community, sharing how we are serving those populations has helped us connect to donors who are supporting other nonprofits that serve those populations.

So it’s helping others who might be serving Catherine McAuley Center who helps immigrants, or YPN who helps young parents, understand how to parent and helping them with parenting skills. They understand the collaboration and how all of those nonprofits are in our space serving their clients. And if we are allowing. It’s going to have to access. It’s going to help everyone be successful. So that’s been really neat to be able to tell all of those stories.

Heather Shanahan: That’s great. And, and such a great way to convey how integral the library is to the community. It’s really, you know the heartbeat of the community and, all of your stories are beyond books. it’s not just about borrowing books.

So do you feel like you’ve bumped into any situations where you misread donor capacity through this process?

Charity Tyler: Goodness. Yes. And it’s gone both ways. So we had what I’m going to call a random library patron call me and said, Hey, I want to know about how to give to this thing. And that’s quite literally all he said. So I called him back and I never heard from him again, which is fine.

Well, this same person showed up at one of our public open houses and met up with one of my coworkers and said, I really want to do this. So I’m like, sure, I’ll meet with them. We’ll meet with everyone. Heather, it turned into a $500,000 gift. Oh, okay. Wow.

Holy buckets. Right.

And as the conversation went on, he said, Hey, tell me more about this. I got a buddy. I think he would be excited about this. Can I bring him in and let’s talk? And I’m like, Oh, okay, well, this is a $500,000 gift, you know, level opportunity. He’s like, yeah, yeah, I know. So it was amazing. It was so cool. And these two families now are investing a half million dollars in our project.

On the other side, I have. people who I know, I am very aware of their capacity. They have buildings on college campuses that are named after them and, it isn’t fitting with their philanthropy today, right? And so they are supporting it. They value the library, but you know, some of those conversations, they go both ways.

You really think that maybe, maybe this is the thing and it’s just not today, but it’s fun either way to have that. that was a misjudgment. Yes.

Heather Shanahan: I mean, how do you know when to give up?

Charity Tyler: You know? Yeah. Yeah. Gosh, that’s a, that, that is a tough one.

There are people in the community that I know are library supporters that are just not responding to me.

And my rules usually reach out three times and it’s not three times in the same week, right? It’s three times over about a six to eight week period. Just, hey, you know, sometimes it’s three times in a three month period, whatever it is, but I’ve reached out three times. I don’t want to be the executive director that people avoid.

Okay. When we run into each other at other events or fundraisers, and that’s usually my limit, if they don’t respond. Fine. I get it. Whatever. What has happened though, is as I see them at these events, Oh, Charity! Oh, I owe you this! I need to donate! And so I know that the will is still there, but I’m also just not going to waste my time, right?

If they want to, they have all the tools, they have all the information. And making sure that I’m using my time wisely has been, very helpful again, because I’m a team of two, one doing annual funding and me with the capital.

Heather Shanahan: And on that note, you’ve done clearly just a remarkable job. So hats off to you for all of your work. It’s such an impressive story. and we’re super grateful that you’re willing to spend time with us today. I would love to give you the opportunity to see any parting notes or words of wisdom. then additionally, we close Mission and Markets with the question of our guests.

Mission Impact. What does that mean to you?

Charity Tyler: I think closing thoughts on this campaign. We’re calling it the upside-down campaign. We scraped and scraped and prodded with a lot of onesies, twosies, but a lot of $25,000 gifts and $10,000 gifts to get to that, where we are right now, 7. 2. And persistence, is huge, right? I think impact, mission and impact to me, it really is the willingness to serve all people where they are.

We don’t know what anyone else is experiencing and I take such pride in supporting an organization that its doors are open to anyone at any time and we are here to help you and whether it’s finding the book that you’re looking for. Or applying for rental assistance, or finding citizenship classes, or finding housing.

All people, all the time, we’re here to meet you where you are. And we want to help you achieve or accomplish what you want to achieve. So that, all people all the time. it’s a little bit like, it’s Bob Goff. Love everybody always.

And so that is, that’s something, you know, you don’t know what kind of impact you’re going to have.

Heather Shanahan: Excellent. What a wonderful way to end. Thank you, Charity, so much for your time and guiding us through this process. And, good luck closing that gap there towards the end, your end, the sprint to the finish line. Appreciate everything that you’re doing in the Cedar Rapids community and how you’ve touched our listeners across the country.

So thank you so much for your time and for being a guest.

Charity Tyler: Thank you for the opportunity, Heather. It’s been great.

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