Franklin library board and foundation formalize collaboration as budget shows 10% gap

The Franklin Public Library Board of Trustees and the Franklin Public Library Foundation met June 16 to formalize a plan for closer collaboration on fundraising and outreach while reviewing the library’s 2025–2029 strategic plan and the system’s 2025 budget.

Maria Impe, a member of the library board who served as acting president for the meeting, said the joint session was intended to “make this official and and moving forward with this,” describing the new collaboration with the foundation as a listed objective in the strategic plan.

The discussion centered on three linked topics: how the foundation can align fundraising to the library’s written goals; a calendar of regular fundraisers and recent results; and the library’s fiscal picture for 2025. Alan Alexandrovich, treasurer of the library board, presented the budget summary, saying, “Total revenues is $1,550,700.” He later summarized the overall appropriations and the shortfall: “So the total appropriations, 1,712,748, is a 110.44% of the revenue. So we've already identified we're gonna overspend by 10.44%."

Why it matters: the board’s strategic plan (2025–2029) identifies community focus, communication, library services and facility, and operational alignment as core goals and explicitly lists collaboration with the…