Three Ways to Support Moon Lake Library – Automatically

Every year, Friends of Moon Lake Library raises funds to support our local library. Because of their work, we have a book budget sufficient to purchase around 15 new books each month and to keep the lights on in the building — literally. The money they provide, along with that generously provided by the Town of Mentone, covers most of the library’s expenses. Used book sales, ads from the community calendar project, and donations received in response to our annual Friends appeal in the fall have long been the usual sources of funds.

Conversations in recent board meetings have focused on different ways patrons can support the library through ongoing contributions. Some patrons have already discovered them and are taking advantage of the convenience of setting up recurring donations in amounts that work with their household budgets all year. Now that fewer people rely on writing checks to make donations, it makes sense to see what alternatives are out there.

Here are three ways to contribute without ever writing a check:

Set up one-time or recurring donations with this link: https://www.moonlakelibrary.org/support.html and click on the yellow DONATE button.

It allows users to pay with a credit or debit card, PayPal, or Venmo and is simple to set up. Thanks to our patrons who have already set up regular donations! They’ve shown us how quick and easy it is.

Help fund The Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, which provides a free book monthly to kids ages 0-5 in the 35984 zip code by registering through this link: https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/

There you can designate Moon Lake Library as the recipient of your donation and make it one-time or recurring. Thanks to the anonymous donor who gives $20 per month toward our participation in this valuable program. Once that amount is deducted from our invoices, we currently pay about $35 a month. If you’d like to support this program specifically, this is an easy way to do that.

Employer matching funds: Does your employer match donations to nonprofit entities? Friends of Moon Lake Library is a 501(c)(3), so donations are not just tax deductible, they’re also matchable under programs certain employers have. We receive a monthly donation from a third-party vendor that manages matches like these. The patron donates half the money monthly, their employer the other half. While matching programs are not as common as they used to be, there are some still out there, and Friends of Moon Lake Library is eligible to be a designated recipient.

You can access the two donation links by scanning the QR codes in the graphic for this story. If you have any questions about donations to the library, please email books@moonlakelibrary.org or call 256-634-2127.