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Council approves library donor recognition policy, agrees to honor documented earlier gifts meeting threshold
Summary
Council approved a donor recognition policy for the new Richmond library that names individual rooms (not the building) for 20 years, recognizes cumulative donations starting in 2024 but will accept documented earlier gifts that meet the threshold, and establishes signage and donation levels.
The New Richmond City Council approved a library-specific donation and donor recognition policy to guide naming rights and signage for the planned community library.
Staff explained the policy would complement the city’s existing donation, gift and memorials policy and would focus recognition on individual spaces within the new Richmond Community Library. The policy states the building name will be Richmond Community Library (the policy does not make the building itself eligible for naming rights), while rooms and outdoor spaces may be named for donors for a 20-year recognition period. Staff said the donor recognition wall will include a general acknowledgement of many past and small-dollar donors and that cumulative donations would be counted beginning in 2024. "Recognizing that we may miss someone by doing that," a council member proposed and council adopted a stipulation to include earlier documented donations that meet the stated threshold.
The council discussed practical issues such as verifying older gifts that might have been given to different accounts (city, Friends of the Library, or community foundations). Staff said signage plans include a central donor wall in the lobby listing sponsor levels and smaller plaques outside individually named rooms. Minimum levels for recognition were discussed (the draft referenced examples such as a $5,000 threshold for certain signage tiers) and council agreed staff should accept documentation from donors who can show qualifying gifts prior to 2024.
A motion to approve the donation and donor recognition policy with the stipulation to recognize earlier documented gifts passed on a roll-call vote.
What’s next: Staff will finalize the policy language, prepare marketing materials and add recognition/signage plans to project materials as the library project proceeds.
