That's endowment. Money we could use the interest from to do things we have to do. And the things that we are going to have to do are big ticket things -- like expanding the building's second floor out over the parking lots (roughly US $125.00 per square foot, assuming you don't have problems like you always do and don't need furniture and shelves and things). It's money to pay for things we'll need in twenty years, in forty years. And it won't be enough then unless we get the money NOW and invest it so that we have the money when we need it.

And I want this set up so that NOBODY, not even the Library Board, can touch that money without the approval of an Endowment Board. Daily operations of the Library should be financed by the city, as should ordinary repairs and equipment replacement. But if the Director in 2050 (unlikely to be me, 'cause I'd be about 105 years old then) wants to install quark-stabilized information transport s/he could make a case for it and apply to the Endowment Board for the cash (if the city couldn't or wouldn't provide it).

I only hope that $20 million would be enough seed money!