Support ALA's Cultural Communities Fund
Libraries are champions of lifelong learning — places to quench curiosities, access technology, and explore new ideas, hobbies and careers.
But extraordinary library programs — the type of library programs our communities need and deserve — require funding and training that some libraries struggle to afford.
Created by the American Library Association’s Public Programs Office in 2004 with a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the endowment has since grown to $3.2 million. Cultural Communities Fund (CCF) supports excellence and innovation in community-focused library programming through grants, awards, and professional development, and helps to fund the Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant, Peggy Barber Tribute Grant, and the Sara Jaffarian Library Program Award
Please join our network of CCF supporters — including more than 500 library professionals, foundations and corporations — by making a tax-deductible contribution today. You can designate your gift to support a specific grant or award (listed below) or you can give an unrestricted gift, and we will use your donation where it is needed most.
This page is brought to you by the American Library Association’s Public Programs Office. If you have questions about donating to the Cultural Communities Fund, please email us at publicprograms@ala.org. Thank you for your support!
How can I support the Cultural Communities Fund?
The Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant is an annual grant to recognize, promote, and support innovative and meaningful community engagement efforts in libraries.
The Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant was made possible by former ALA president and longtime generous supporter Nancy Kranich, with additional contributions raised by solicitations and a matching opportunity in 2017.
To designate your gift in support of the Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant, please click "Add a tribute or memorial to my donation" when donating online and enter "LTCEG."
The Peggy Barber Tribute Grant is an annual programming grant named after Margaret "Peggy" Barber, a transformative leader in ALA and the library field who was behind the creation of National Library Week and the Celebrity READ series. The $2,500 grant is open to public, academic, K-12, tribal and special libraries and helps to support meaningful programs with limited programming budgets.
The Peggy Barber Tribute Grant was made possible by friends and colleagues of Peggy, who donated to CCF in her name after she passed away in 2019.
To designate your gift in support of the Peggy Barber Tribute Grant, please click "Add a tribute or memorial to my donation" when donating online and enter "Peggy Barber."
The Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award recognizes excellence in humanities programming in libraries that serve children in grades K-8.
The $5,000 award, which recognizes the late school librarian Sara Jaffarian, is presented annually by the ALA Public Programs Office in cooperation with the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).
To designate your gift in support of the Jaffarian Award, please click "Add a tribute or memorial to my donation" when donating online and enter "Jaffarian."
With the generosity of individual and corporate donors, the Cultural Communities Fund has grown to $3 million, providing crucial support for:
- grants and awards, including those listed above, that recognize excellence and promote innovation
- professional development opportunities, both in-person and online, for library workers at libraries of all types
- ProgrammingLibrarian.org, ALA's online community dedicated to library programs
Your unrestricted gift allows ALA to support the above areas in the ways that are needed most at this time.
