Library Trustees Acknowledge That Fundraising Gap Will Be Substantial

At their July 30, 2026 meeting, the Jones Library Trustees finally received a fundraising update for the building expansion project (there had been no report since May 1). Chair Austin Sarat said, “We need to acknowledge that the gap [between Capital Campaign fundraising and the library’s portion of the building project costs] is likely to be substantial.”

During public comment held at the beginning of the meeting, I asked the trustees to address some persistent problems highlighted by the Capital Campaign report’s figures:

1. The total amount of outstanding pledges has not budged from $3 million for a very long time.

• What is the nature of these pledges?
• Why haven’t they been fulfilled?
• At what point will the trustees acknowledge that they are not going to materialize?
  

2. With $9 million due to be paid back to the town in about 18 months, what is the library doing to raise an average of a half million dollars per month, or to secure loans if that fails? Notably, donations actually received trailed campaign expenses, resulting in a net loss in June 2026. 

Trustee Lee Edwards reported that the state budget included $50,000 for the Jones Library for its inclusion of gender-neutral bathrooms in the building project. She also noted that the trustees will be releasing $600,000 of fundraising dollars to the town, although she was not sure about the timing of that reimbursement. She expressed confidence that all pledges would be received and explained that donors had been told that they could arrange for pledged amounts to be paid over a five-year period. Sarat asked her to provide a pledge payment schedule at their next meeting. She did not offer any strategies for raising the other millions of dollars still due.

Sarat asked Jones Trustee Treasurer Nat Larson to say a few words about how the library would “fill the gap” that will exist when the deadline for the library’s repayment to the town occurs. Larson noted that $4.5 million of the library’s $9.5 million endowment has been placed in a money market account so that it could be used for this purpose. Sarat reminded the trustees that the library relies on the endowment to pay operating expenses. Larson said it may be possible for the library to also borrow money, but cautioned that this would incur additional costs. He said the trustees would need to decide between continuing the capital campaign for several years or pivoting to Annual Fund receipts. (A report on the Annual Fund showed steadily decreasing numbers of donors from 2022 to 2026 with annual intakes declining from approximately $150,000 to $112,000.)

While it was refreshing to hear Sarat finally be more forthright in acknowledging that the library’s fundraising efforts will fall far short of their responsibility, it offers no comfort when that gap was entirely predictable and will cause financial hardship to both the library and the town. Every time this project was at a decision point of whether to move forward, the trustees and project proponents made promises about the money that would be pouring in, and most town officials happily went along with that magical thinking.