Here are some great grant opportunities; start your application process now to meet the deadline dates:

Wisconsin Author Speakers Bureau Grant
Deadline date: April 15, 2013
Award: up to $300 to sponsor a talk by a Wisconsin author or book artist (illustrator, designer, etc.) at your library
Details and application form
Overview: The Wisconsin Center for the Book Speakers Bureau grant funds a stipend for a speaker hosted by a non-profit community organization. Collaboration among groups is preferred. Such groups may include, but are not limited to, public libraries; public and private elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools; community organizations; nature centers; and places of worship. Libraries are encouraged to look beyond their Friends groups for partnerships. Applications will be judged on the basis of community outreach and collaboration, thoroughness of planning, and rationale for the choice of speaker.

Target Early Childhood Reading Grant
Deadline: April 30, 2013
Award: $2000
Details and application form and grant FAQ
Note: your library must be within 100 miles of a Target store; use this locator to find the one nearest to your library.
Overview: Target funds programs that foster a love of reading and encourage young children, preschool through third grade, to read together with their families. Reading grants support programs such as library storytimes and family reading nights.
Criteria: programs must take place between September 2013 and August 2014

Banned Books Week Event Grants
Deadline: April 30, 2013
Award: $1000 and $2500
Details and application form
Overview: The Freedom to Read Foundation's Judith Krug Memorial Fund disburses grants to assist in staging a “Read-Out” (an event at which people gather to read from books that have been banned or challenged over the years, in order to celebrate the freedom to read) or other events to celebrate Banned Books Week (September 22-30, 2013).

Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions
Deadline: May 1, 2013
Award: up to $6000
Details and application form
Overview: Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions — such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities — improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials.

Pushing the Limits: A Reading, Viewing, Discussion Series for Rural Libraries
Deadline: May 15, 2013
Award: $2500, program materials including videos, and an on-line training program
Details and application form
Overview: This program extends the building blocks of science literacy to two new audiences: rural librarians and adults in the communities they serve. The Pushing the Limits public programs will explore these ideas through a discussion led by a STEM professional (science, technology, engineering, math) and the local librarian, using a blended science café and book club model that integrates feature film quality videos and a recommended (popular) book reading. The overarching theme is one of real people, real stories, and real science.

Libri Foundation Books for Children Grant
Deadline: May 15, 2013
Award: new, quality, hardcover children’s books
Details and application form
Overview: The Libri Foundation is a nationwide non-profit organization which donates new, quality, hardcover children’s books to small, rural public libraries throughout the United States. The Foundation will match any amount of money raised by your local sponsors from $50 to $350 on a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, your library could receive up to $1,050 worth of new children’s books (about 70 books). Criteria: • Libraries should serve a population under 10,000 (usually under 5,000) • Libraries should be in a rural area (usually considered to be at least 30 miles from a city with a population over 40,000) • Have a limited operating budget • Have an active children’s department Libraries in the Winnefox Library System that have been successful Libri grant award winners include:

• Oxford Public Library, 2012
• Westfield Public Library, 2011
• Montello Public Library received 81 new books at a value of $1413.59 in 2010 Their grant was made possible with help from a donation of $350 from the Friends of the Montello Public Library.
• Brandon Public Library received a grant totaling $1,400 to purchase a selection of preschool – grade 6 books in 2010.  Their grant was made possible with help of donations from Thomas L. Reilly (local  author), Gloria Newton, Bank of Oakfield, Central Well Drilling, Inc., and Tylor S. Loest.