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Library board approves $14,400 for foundation to fund 18‑month social media contract
Summary
The Palm Springs Library Board on Feb. 4 approved a $14,400 allocation to the Palm Springs Public Library Foundation to fund 18 months of professional social media management, citing early pilot metrics showing increased engagement that could support the capital campaign.
The Palm Springs Library Board of Trustees voted Feb. 4 to provide $14,400 to the Palm Springs Public Library Foundation to underwrite an 18‑month professional social media contract intended to support fundraising and outreach.
Jeffrey Hill, a member of the foundation’s technology committee and board, told trustees the foundation’s brief pilot with a professional resource produced “3,000 more views” of foundation content in January versus December, “over 1,000 new and unique people” engaging with pages, about “200 comments, likes, or shares,” “20 direct link clicks” and a doubling of the foundation’s Instagram following. Hill said the foundation is proposing a sustained effort so those metrics can support the capital campaign and future endowment work.
Hill said the foundation drafted standard operating procedures that would govern how the foundation’s professional resource receives content requests, posts material and reports metrics back to the foundation on a likely monthly cycle. He said the foundation would centrally manage the social media outreach and coordinate with library staff to avoid duplicative messaging.
The foundation proposed adding $800 per month for 18 months (total $14,400) to retain the consultant—identified in the record as Cara Van Dyke—to handle foundation social media work as part of an integrated outreach approach with Friends of the Library and library staff. A trustee moved to approve the request, a second followed, and the board approved the allocation in a roll‑call vote, 5‑0.
The authorization directs foundation funds to the described outreach work; the motion record in the meeting did not specify contract terms beyond the monthly amount and duration. The foundation’s representatives said they would report engagement results to the foundation and to the board on an ongoing basis.
During the same report the foundation’s president announced he will step down from the president role in June but will remain on the foundation board (including the executive and finance committees) as immediate past president for about another year.
What happens next: foundation representatives said they will implement the 18‑month plan, finalize the consultant arrangement and report metrics to trustees. The board did not attach additional conditions to the approval during the meeting.
