The Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation is encouraging community members to give to the Supporting Our Grand Rapids Area Library Fund, which now has a $30,000 matching grant available through September 1, 2026. Every dollar donated to the fund, up to $30,000, will be matched – doubling the impact of community gifts and helping ensure expanded library services.

Due to significant budget cuts across the City of Grand Rapids for 2026, the library was forced to reduce hours open to the public, cut staff work hours, and decrease the budget for new materials by 65%. In response to the cuts, City Councilor Molly MacGregor and others created the Supporting Our Grand Rapids Area Library Fund through the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation, as a temporary, unrestricted method of funding staff pay with the goal of increasing open hours for 2027. Funds raised will be paid to the City of Grand Rapids in 2027 and earmarked for the library’s budget.

Community support for the fund continues to be strong. To date, 170 donations have been made, totaling more than $90,000, to help maintain and expand library hours in 2027. Organizers have increased the fundraising goal to $120,000 (or more) by September 1, 2026, to encourage the match, which will support additional library services next year. No amount is too small. Every dollar helps reach this goal, and more donations mean more open hours in 2027.

While monies raised through the Supporting Our Grand Rapids Area Library Fund are used exclusively to augment staff salaries, they do not supplement library materials and building operational expenses or address the long-term funding challenge faced by the City of Grand Rapids. At a community meeting on June 24, at which the matching grant was announced, organizers discussed strategies to prevent future funding shortfalls and ensure sustainable library operations.

Ongoing support for library materials, program management, furnishment upgrades, and special projects may continue through private donations and legacy gifts to the Grand Rapids Area Library Foundation and Children’s Library Funds, endowments also held at the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation.

For more information about the Supporting Our Grand Rapids Area Library Fund, contact Molly MacGregor at dakise53@gmail.com. If you would like to donate, you can mail or drop off a check to the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation, 350 NW 1st Avenue, Suite E, Grand Rapids, Minnesota (please put Supporting Our Grand Rapids Area Library Fund in the memo line), or donate online by CLICKING HERE.