Mission Statement & History

The mission of The Fort Worth Public Library Foundation is to benefit and support the Fort Worth Library by promoting excellence for the library as an educational and cultural institution of the city.

The Fort Worth Public Library Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, was chartered in 1993 to bring together public and private funding in support of the public library. At the time, the Library was facing severe budget cuts and the Central Library was plagued with more than 100 water leaks on the ground level, which not only disrupted patron service, but also destroyed parts of the collection. Library services had not been a priority of city government for some years. The newly established Foundation board worked with elected officials and city staff to reverse this trend and restore the library to a place of prominence in the community.

Major projects of the Library Foundation since inception have included:

The Raise Your Voice for the Library capital campaign, which provided almost $5 million to expand and enhance the Central Library.
Identifying $200,000 in private funds, matched by $175,000 in city funds to provide the first-ever Master Plan for the Library.
Partnering again with the city to share the $1 million cost to provide a new integrated library system for the library.
Initiating a Collections Campaign and providing more than $250,000 matched by the city to improve the library's collections.
In partnership with Crescent Real Estate Equities, a major renovation was provided the North Side Branch.
The Central Library Gallery was completely renovated with new acoustics, lighting, furnishings, paint and refinished flooring. The Tandy Lecture Hall and Chappell Conference Room were redecorated and updated with a gift of $550,000 from the Foundation.
Thousands of library patrons both young and old have enjoyed the marvelous programs of the Library Foundation - the Owsley Children's Author Series, the Priority Literacy (one-to one) Literacy Program for adults, the Launch-Pad College Application Program, the Tuesdays at the Library Lecture Series, Libraryfest, the Lincoln Festival and a city-wide read entitled Fort Worth Reads Together.