Give books! A book is such a personal and meaningful gift and buying one at the Friends Bookstores at the Main and Fort Mason makes your gift even more special. Proceeds from book sales go toward providing necessary financial support and advocacy for the SFPL.

Give a Friends Bookstore Gift Certificate. Available to purchase at both bookstores. Let your loved-ones enjoy restocked selections every day, from new and rare art books to the most incredible collections of history and fiction. They may get lost in the bookstores all day! 

Give a Friends Membership. Members get 10% off all books in our bookstores and over thirty other independent bookstores throughout the city! Along with discounts, members receive invitations to Library and author events, tickets to the Big Book Sale Member Preview, and this At the Library SFPL monthly publication delivered to their home.

Give a gift to Friends. Make an impact for your community, for free public access to our award-winning Library, and exceptional Library programming by making a personally significant gift to Friends. Here are ways that you can give: 

Make a year-end gift online (including tribute gifts): go to FriendsSFPL.org/Support-Us 
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Make a gift of appreciated stock (Beneficiaries of 2019 IPOs encouraged!)

If you are 70.5+ years young, please consider making a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). A QCD is a direct transfer of funds from an IRA custodian, payable to a qualified charity. QCDs can be counted toward satisfying required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the year. Also, QCDs don't require itemization, which due to the recent tax law changes, means you can take advantage of the higher standard deduction, but still use a QCD for charitable giving.
Example: A married couple both over age 65 now receives a $27,200 standard deduction; so itemized deductions must exceed that amount to reduce taxable income. Under the new tax laws, itemized deductions for all taxes are limited to $10,000. Further, home mortgages may be virtually paid off and medical deductions are still not allowable except in the rare year of serious illness. This all means that if you directly donate the “remaining” $17,200 and claim it as a charitable itemized deduction, it will produce no additional tax benefit. As an alternative, you can transfer the $17,200 directly from one's IRA under QCD and reduce your adjustable gross income (AGI) by that full amount while still preserving the full $27,200 standard deduction. (The standard deduction for single filers is $13,600.)
Information on all ways to give can be found at FriendsSFPL.org/Support-Us, and you can also contact Craig Palmer, Chief of Advancement directly at (415) 477-5235 and craig.palmer@friendssfpl.org.

​On Friday, Feb. 23, Luis Herrera retired as City Librarian. During his 13 years serving San Francisco, he championed massive change in the library system and was a beacon of inspiration for librarians and library lovers alike. Luis may have packed up his office, but he remains staunchly passionate about continuing to make an exceptional difference at the San Francisco Public Library. And guess what? You can too, by contributing to the Luis Herrera Latino/Hispanic Interest Collection.

Looking at what Luis has accomplished can put into context how effective this new fund can be. In 2012, Luis was named Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year, and a few years after that was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Latino Community Foundation, he was a champion in the Latino community nationally.

We remember Luis as one of San Francisco’s most influential City Librarians, and his amazing work for our City has garnered national attention. The branch capital improvement projects, led by Luis, transformed neighborhood libraries into community beacons. Fast forward to present day, and every library is open seven days a week; a national model of service for all urban libraries.

Now is your chance to contribute to a special collection beloved by Luis. The Luis Herrera Latino/Hispanic Interest Collection helps to bridge gaps in the library’s selections, making new and important Spanish language content available throughout the system. The collection also funds programming catering to Latino communities and aims to bring more people into our libraries.

​Help us continue his great legacy through contributing to this special opportunity. Visit friendssfpl.org for more information.

From community connections to children’s literacy, our SFPL far transcends books. The San Francisco Public Library is a beacon for so much good in San Francisco. From homeless services, immigration help, author readings, craft and performance programs and unrestricted internet access, the library is a free space that empowers every member of our society with tools to learn and engage the community around them. No matter the socioeconomic background, every person in San Francisco is a part of the library. Whether it’s participating in library services, or supporting the voter-approved Library Preservation Fund, the library is part of our identity. Board member Sarah Jones said it best in a recent speech at the 2019 Library Laureates fundraiser, “It’s not the library, it’s our library.” Friends is an integral part of making sure the library is fully equipped to take on its important work. While the city covers the library’s staffing and operational costs, private donations allow Friends to pay for expenses that fall outside of the city’s capacity and to more quickly respond to needs. Support include fees for subcontracted service providers; honorariums for authors, artists and curators; collections acquisition; equipment; program supplies; food; multilingual materials; and professional training to keep SFPL librarians on the leading edge of innovation. By supporting Friends, you can see the direct impact you are having on the 2018 Library of the Year. The partnership between Friends, the Library, and you is the reason our library is so successful and nationally recognized as a beacon of inclusivity in our community

Friends provides over $1 million in direct support to the San Francisco Public Library. While the city covers the Library’s staffing and operational costs, private donations allow Friends to fund expenses that fall outside of the city’s capacity and to quickly respond to needs. Support includes fees for subcontracted service providers; honorariums for authors, artists and curators; collections acquisition; equipment; program supplies; food; multilingual materials production; and professional training to keep librarians on the leading edge of innovation. Friends’ support is spread throughout:

​Additionally, we work in tandem with SFPL on key signature community partnerships, including Summer Stride, One City One Book, the Effie Lee Morris Children’s Literature Lecture Series, Connect with Tech Week, the James Hormel LGBTQIA Endowment, the Wiley Innovation Fund, and the Lisa Brown and Daniel Handler Writer’s Residency. 

​Library Laureates 2019 celebration. Top right: Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Elaine Castillo, Thi Bui and Marie Ciepiela. Lower left: Daniel Handler and Dave Eggers.

Amy Freed whose play Freedomland was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, talks about being a 2019 Library Laureate. 

Jade Chang, author of The Wangs Vs. The World talks about being a 2019 Library Laureate. 

TJ Stiles talks talks about being a 2019 Library Laureate.