photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence Public Library, pictured Aug. 20, 2015.

Two organizations helping the Lawrence Public Library hope to streamline their efforts by becoming one organization.

The Lawrence Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Lawrence Public Library are planning to merge by 2020 to simplify both of their operations.

Kathleen Morgan, executive director for the foundation, said the membership of the Friends of the Lawrence Public Library and the board of the Lawrence Public Library Foundation need to vote to approve the merger.

Angela Hyde, program coordinator for the Friends of the Library, said the merger will not impact the Friends of the Library’s book sales, which are a community staple.

Morgan said the two organizations have worked closely together in the past and have the same goal.

“We both raise money for the library,” she said. “From a donor standpoint, it’s all for the library.”

Although both organizations raise money for the library, they do it in different ways. Funds raised by the Friends of the Lawrence Public Library contribute to the library’s immediate operating needs, and the funds for the Lawrence Public Library Foundation are saved in an endowment fund.

“Both functions are equally as important,” Morgan said.

When Morgan joined the Foundation in 2009, she said the organizations were both sending annual letters to members at the end of the year, which confused some people. They were not working together at the time, which resulted in two organizations that were asking for funding from the same people.

The organizations decided to combine the annual letters, which began the path to a merger, Morgan said.

To merge, the organizations will need to decide how to combine the boards that oversee their work. Morgan said the boards will likely become one board with underlying committees focused on certain projects.

“It’s in the early stages and we want to be transparent and open about it,” Morgan said.

She said there is some administrative overlap, such as auditing the organizations, that could be simplified.

The organizations are going to use the next year to consider a new branding for the organizations that honors the history of both organizations and makes it clear they have the same mission.

Morgan said a new name for the group could be as simple as Friends and Foundation of the Library.

“I think it’s a really good opportunity to rejuvenate both organizations,” she said.