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  • Volunteer
  • About Us
    • 60+ Years of Friends
    • Board
    • Staff
    • Our Supporters
    • Financials
    • Blog >
      • History Series
    • Contact Us >
      • Employment
    • Sign-Up for Newsletter
  • Support Us
    • Donate
    • Leadership Circle
    • Innovation Circle
    • Leave a Legacy Gift
    • The Pacifics
    • Gift of appreciated stock
    • Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD)
    • Other ways to give
    • Library Preservation Fund
  • What We Fund
  • Buy & Donate Books
    • Bookstore
    • Donate Books
    • This Is Ear Hustle
  • Laureates 2023
  • Events
    • Book Sales
  • Residencies
    • Brown Handler Writer's Residency ​
    • James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Fellowship
  • Volunteer
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​Keeping the San Francisco Public Library on the leading edge of innovation and response

Members of the Innovation Circle are the “angel investors” for the Library, empowering our Librarians to pilot and scale new service models that make the San Francisco Public Library one of the most recognized and awarded libraries worldwide. ​Private support, provided by Friends, jumpstarts research, planning, and testing of creative ideas beyond the limitations of government funding. Donations unleash the potential of the responsive public/private partnership between Friends and the Library.

"...the "angel investors" for the Library."

​Innovation Circle members making donations of $1,000 to $4,999 provide 22% of all support to Friends and the Library. There are many ways to join the Innovation Circle. We welcome a personal discussion to talk about your interests by contacting Barbara Alvarez, Director of Philanthropy, at 415.477.5231 or Barbara.Alvarez@friendssfpl.org.
Donate Online
Appreciated Stock
QCD
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“Sometimes you want to help but do not know where to begin. The Innovation Circle has allowed me to take a step towards contributing to my community in a meaningful way. Because of The Innovation Circle, The Library can respond to challenges, such as public health crises and wildfires, with lightening-speed reaction times and malleable programming. This adaptability has shown, not only to our local community, but to libraries around the world, that libraries are resilient in even the most challenging times.”
                                                                                                                              - Gabby Bozmarova


A Legacy of Innovation
Summer Stride
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Originally a reading-tracker program for children, Summer Stride now welcomes adults, implements STEM programming, and has a groundbreaking partnership with the National Park Service. Friends funded the Beanstack application, allowing Summer Stride to go virtual.
​The Mix at Main
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Designed by youth, the multimedia center at the Main Library boasts sound and film studios, a maker space, and a performance stage set among curated book collections, laptops, and homework.
One City One Book
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The brainchild of Friends, One City One Book, unifying San Franciscans around a single book
every year, was quickly imitated across the country.
Bibliobistro
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Librarian Lia Hillman’s food education program gives live demonstrations of simple, vegetarian recipes outdoors with a mobile kitchen. Bibliobistro won a Library Innovation Award from the American Library Association in 2016.

​​Members of the Innovation Circle
$1,000 - $4,999
Local Independent Charities
Lesbians for Good of Horizons Foundation
Brian and Jean Wheeler
Jennifer Chaiken and Sam Hamilton
Paul Korntheuer and Linda Griffith
Laurence J. Bardoff and Lilli I. Alberga
Shervin Afsharazad
Internet Archive
David Stringer-Calvert
Morrison & Foerster Foundation
Gaia Fund
Marjorie and Barry Traub
FThree Foundation
Kevin Smokler and Cariwyl Hebert
Laura and Greg Spivy
Helen and Thomas Merigan Charitable Trust
Gordon Chin
Catherine and Frank Bator
Elizabeth Klein
Marie Ciepiela
Joe N. Short
Catherine Sanger
Marianne O'Connor
Edwin Callan Family Trust
Landis Family Trust
Natasha Dvorak
Marco and Sabrina Hellman
Joseph and Denise Ziony
William Haerle and Susan Bradshaw
Catherine Foo and Aaron Bastian
Christopher Sam
Jennifer Kurrie
Gene Graham
Liz Shipman
Valla Family Foundation
Nancy Traub Chirinos
Jack and JoAnn Bertges
Michael and Nina Endelman
Christopher Reade
Clayton Hitchins
Steve and Mary Gorski
Cole Hardware
Donald and Janie Friend
Bruce Wang
Community Thrift Store
Peter and Beverly Sinton
Ellen Champlin
David Kremer and Marla Miller
Eric Mori and Mami Mori
Keith Goldstein and Donna Warrington
Cyrus Stoller
Pamela Sebastian
Karen Strauss and Ruth Borenstein
Carole Deitrich
Kim Wells
Ruth Quigley
Cherie Raciti
Karen Chee
Rebecca Charnas Grant
Steven and Ann Brooks
Ellen Egbert
Dona Fuchiwaki
Jeffrey Cohen
Ann Maxwell
Susan Abby
Olivia and Roth
Suzanne Daneman Cauthen Trust
​American Library Association
Mary Ann Aronson
Kami Frankel
Benjamin De Kosnik
Joan Avenali
Marcia Schneider
Paul Wythes and Antoinette Wythes
John and Laura Fisher
Steven and Gina Harris
Kathe Traynor
Tamar Pachter and Stacey Hawver
Rachel E. Kish
John Stedman
Mark and Mauree Jane Perry
Patricia Mar
Jenni Parrish and Gerard Clark
Phyllis Blair
Tina Shih and Edward Haddad
Barbara Rosston
Elizabeth Kantor
Martha Ehrenfeld and Carla McKay
Luis and Nancy Herrera
Michel Mirkovitch
Carlin De Cato and Ramana Rao
Sophie Ziegler and Jonathan Schwartz
Eunice Chee
Lisa and Greg Wendt
Carolyn Rohrer
John Briscoe and Carol Sayers
Cary Carpemter Giving Account
Christopher and Julie Ridley
Jennifer Braun and Raymond Ryan
Leonard Fisher and Risa Teitelbaum
Linda Nanbu
Dara Shulman
Emily Johnston and Edward Pizzi
Jeffrey Morris
Wheeler and Millen Griffith
Carolyn Jayne
Maureen Conners
Anne Fung and Jeffrey Sternberg
Robert Lindsay and Patricia Moore
Sarah Flanagan
Emily and Mike Beitiks
LiAnna Davis and Alexander Feinberg
Lydia Butterfield
Andrew and Miriam Canepa
Fernando Gonzalez
Sonia and Chris Weiss
Barbara Hager
Kimport Villeneuve Family Fund
Dick & CB Watts
Lois Tilles
Gretchen Turner
The Honorable Connie Wolf
Nakahata-Fong Family Fund
Josephine Lee
Sheila Davies
Margaret Quattrin
William Swinerton
Emma Fisher
Lara Pimentel
Caroline Newman
Liza Siegler
John Garfinkel
Justin Wu
Minder Cheng
Jeff Silver
Based on gifts made between January and December 2022. 

​ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES &
Donation center Location
1630 17TH STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107

​Administrative Phone: (415) 626-7500
BOOK DONATION CENTER: (415) 522-8606 

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