Donate

Making Your Donation

Your gifts to the Library through the Mason City Public Library Foundation, Inc., help create and maintain an outstanding Library for North Iowa.  

Reasons to Give:

  • Make a donation in your name anytime because you want to serve the local community now and in the future
  • Make a donation in the name of friends, family members, and colleagues for birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, or other milestones.  
  • Give a memorial in honor of a loved one who has passed. 

How to Donate:

  • Write a check made out to “Mason City Public Library Foundation, Inc.” and mail to: Mary Markwalter, Library Director, Mason City Public Library, 225 2nd St. SE, Mason City, IA  50401
  • Click here to use a credit card, debit card, or Pay Pal.
  • Work with your attorney, life insurance representative, or investment advisor to make a bequest to the Foundation.

“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” –Maya Angelou

Memorial Donations

Thanks to the generous donation of $15,000 from the family of Janice Spivak, a study room at the library was named in her honor.   Janice Spivak was the niece of Martin Yoseloff, who taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in Iowa City and offered annual writers’ workshops at the Mason City Public Library.  The donation was made in her name to the Mason City Public Library Foundation, Inc., in 2017.

“The results of philanthropy are always beyond calculation.” –Mary Ritter Beard

Legacy Society

Become a member of the Legacy Society by committing funds from your estate plan to the Mason City Public Library Foundation, Inc. Establish your legacy by ensuring that the Mason City Public Library can meet the community’s needs for access to information, technology, entertainment, and a pleasant public space far into the future. 

Ask your financial advisor or attorney about gifts that also pay you income. For example:

  • A “Charitable Gift Annuity” offers a charitable tax deduction at the time of your gift. You receive payment annually and for life, but a portion of your payment is tax free.
  • A “Charitable Remainder Trust” offers a charitable deduction at the time of your gift. Your annual payments are received for life or term of years. You can add to the principal at any time. Your payments are taxed as ordinary income.
  • A “Pooled Income Fund” offers a charitable deduction at the time of your gift. Your income payments are received for life. Your payments are taxed as ordinary income.

Ask your financial advisor or attorney about gifts that also pay you income. For example:

TYPE OF GIFT DESCRIPTION

Charitable Gift Annuity
  • Take a charitable tax deduction at time of gift
  • Receive payment annually for life, with a portion of payment tax free
Charitable Remainder Trust
  • Take a charitable deduction at time of gift
  • Receive annual payments for life or term of years
  • Add to principal any time
  • Have payments taxed as ordinary income
Pooled Income Fund
  • Take a charitable deduction at time of gift
  • Receive income payments for life
  • Have payments taxed as ordinary income

Plan now to make an impact after your lifetime.

  • Work through your attorney to make a bequest with a codicil, or an official statement to amend your will.
  • Change your beneficiary designations. This is easy to do with life insurance, retirement assets, and IRAs. Just ask the account holder for a “change of beneficiary” form.
  • Live in your home for life, but donate the home after you pass to the Foundation. Work through your attorney for the documentation required for this “Life Estate Gift.”