Giving Back to Members

WiLS’ financial stability allows us to give back to our community

One of our organizational values is that we believe we are all in this together. Our community of libraries and cultural organizations is an ecosystem that thrives when we recognize our value to one another. WiLS provides opportunities for learning, collaboration, and action in order to grow and strengthen all parts of our ecosystem.

WiLS Ideas to Action Fund

The WiLS Ideas to Action Fund provides grants of up to $5000 so member organizations can bring their project ideas to life. Since 2018, we’ve awarded more than $220,000 to 58 libraries and cultural organizations. The Fund encourages partnerships and collaborations among WiLS members and with community partners, supports innovative and exploratory new work within the Wisconsin library community, and seeds the development of processes, methods, or resources that can be used by other WiLS members.

WiLSWorld Shorts 

WiLSWorld Shorts are quarterly-ish, free webinars designed to be as accessible as possible for our members’ learning needs. These webinars connect our members to information about important issues, foster the exchange of ideas, and help our community form professional connections and collaborations to get work done and done well.

WiLS Volunteer Time Off Allowance and Pro Bono Work 

Each staff member at WiLS is allotted up to 2% of their time to spend on volunteer or pro bono projects – projects for which we do not recover our staff hour costs but that, in some way, give back to the member community or our own local communities. This allows us to pursue some of our own passion projects, growing our own skills and set of experiences, while also benefitting our members, deepening our relationships with our partners, and being part of our communities. WiLS pro bono work can take the form of service on committees or advisory boards, delivering learning opportunities for members, reviewing grant proposals or journal articles, writing blog posts, and more. Our volunteer work is varied and reflects the unique skills and interests of our staff, including volunteering for organizations such as Freewheel and the Volunteer Center of Washington County.