Everyone benefits from friends they can rely on, and Gladstone’s Library is no exception.
We have a community of Friends (with a capital F) who pledge a regular, usually monthly, donation to Gladstone’s Library, which is a registered charity.
Our Friends are a deeply cherished part of the Library community. Many have loyally supported us for decades, while others have joined us recently. All of them are sympathetic to the vision of the Library, which includes offering books, archives and spaces for study and reflection, to those who otherwise would not be able to find them. Friends donations are crucial to helping us do that.
As with all things, the passage of time has made it necessary to update the way we run our Friends scheme, and new technology has offered us new opportunities.
This means that more time and resources can now be directed towards our Friends themselves, with more regular newsletters and events, both on and offline.What our current Friends have seen is a series of emails supporting them to move over to the new system. Visitors to the Library can now see a new Friends sign explaining the purpose and details of the scheme.
The work that went on in the background is not as visible.
The lead up to the Friends scheme refresh spanned months of research and planning by Liz and Jim.
They planned out communications and events for Friends and are supporting people to sign up or change their existing donations. They designed a welcome pack
(with a very nifty tote bag) for Friends who pledge £5 per month or more.Their work has covered everything from the conceptual to day-to-day support, including packing and posting out welcome packs.Their effort has already borne fruit – we have already welcomed dozens of new Friends to the fold and reconnected with existing Friends who have loyally donated to us before.We hope many more join us, as our Friends are our future. Email [email protected] if you have any queries.