The Deschutes Public Library system has threatened legal action against the Friends of the Redmond Branch Library after the group announced publicly its plans to donate to nonprofit organizations outside of the library system.

The library system, made up of branches in Bend, La Pine, Redmond, Sisters and Sunriver, has nonprofit friends groups based in each of those areas with volunteers dedicated to raising money for the library system.

Usually, funds from each of those groups go to the system, not specific branches and not to organizations outside of the library system.

But the Friends of Redmond group had other ideas.

It planned to donate to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Redmond/Terrebonne, Brightside Animal Center, the Edwin Brown Learning Center and the Opportunity Foundation of Central Oregon, all nonprofits based in Redmond. But after receiving a letter from the library system’s legal counsel Tuesday, the group has consulted its own attorney and will not make the donations today.

It will still hold a celebration of the community of Redmond at 10:30 a.m. at the Redmond Chamber of Commerce.

Todd Dunkelberg, director of Deschutes Public Library, explained the library system sets up the donation process this way because it’s necessary for a large system.

“For one, we are a library system; we are one library,” Dunkelberg said Wednesday. “Any money we put into the collection benefits our library as a whole and our community as a whole.”

That’s because, Dunkelberg said, the book collections are shared among all the branches. Chantal Strobel, community relations manager for the Deschutes Public Library, also said it’s necessary to run a large system with a sharing model.

“It really is extremely equitable,” Strobel said Wednesday. “It’s the way any large organization needs to be run.”

But Shandel Gamer, a member of the Friends of the Redmond Branch Library board, said her organization disagrees with the idea that it cannot donate directly to the Redmond branch.

“Our frustration has been that we want our donation to go to the (Redmond) library,” Gamer said Wednesday. “We’ve made our donation to the Deschutes Public Library; it’s time to donate to the community of Redmond.”

Dunkelberg said a couple years back Friends of the Redmond Branch Library made a similar attempt to donate funds to Redmond organizations outside the library system.

“We’ve been working with the Friends group (in Redmond) over the past couple years to solidify what their role is with the library and what our role is with them,” Dunkelberg said. He said a memorandum of understanding was signed to solidify those guidelines.

For the Friends of the Redmond Branch Library to donate to outside organizations would be outside of the MOU, according to the library system’s legal counsel. Gamer thinks it’s a matter of opinion.

“… After talking to our attorney today, it’s really an interpretation of our bylaws,” Gamer said. “Because the threat was not just to the organization but to the individual board members. … Our attorney said we basically have to not give the money out.”

“Any individual who votes to distribute Friends’ funds to an organization other than the Library, or signs any check for such donations, could be held personally liable for those amounts,” the letter from the library’s attorney states.

The letter to the recently resigned president of the Friends of the Redmond Branch Library stated that under the MOU and bylaws, “funds raised and received as donations by Friends must be distributed solely to the Deschutes Public Library or used for activities which support the Library.”

It also states that donating money to groups other than the library “likely jeopardizes Friends’ 501(c)(3) status” because the IRS has designated the group a nonprofit.

The former president, Tessa Bailey, resigned Tuesday night after she had already been voted out by the rest of the board at a recent Friends meeting. Dunkelberg called the vote a “coup” and said the process used did not follow the group’s bylaws.

Gamer said her group feels donating to these outside organizations is the best way to give money directly to the community since it can’t be donated to the Redmond branch.

“We felt that all four organizations were worthy of some contributions,” Gamer said. “So we’re not allowed to do them at this time. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to donate them.”

But Dunkelberg said it’s not that the library system doesn’t think the organizations are worthy, it’s that people who donate to nonprofits affiliated with the library system think they are donating to the library, so that’s where the money should go.

“These organizations they want to support are wonderful organizations and people should be supporting them, they just shouldn’t be supported with funds that are expected to go towards another cause,” Dunkelberg said.

And although Gamer wants the group to be able to fund the Redmond Public Library directly, she doesn’t feel the branch has been underserved except in one area: as a person who is disabled, she sees the need for a bench in front of the Redmond Public Library building so people can rest while they wait for rides. This was brought to the attention of the library system, but no bench has been placed there.

“We didn’t feel that we needed a bench,” Dunkelberg said. “We have bigger needs.”

Gamer was also upset to hear June 23 that the current art program would be terminated and a new art program would be run by staff of the Redmond Public Library. Dunkelberg said Gamer stepping down from her position running the program was a good chance to reassess the program and reorganize it.

“Our problem is not with donations to the Deschutes Public Library. Our concern though, and our attorney’s concern, is that we’re not allowed to donate to any other organizations,” Gamer said. “To be honest, we were completely blindsided by this letter.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com