Webster's Bookstore Cafe has paired with another local business, the online group Cogster, to help raise capital for a new location.

Elaine Meder-Wilgus, a Webster's co-owner and co-founder, announced the partnership Wednesday evening at the State College book store and cafe, 128 S. Allen St. More than 50 people had gathered there for Friends of Webster's, a grassroots group that wants the business to survive.

Under terms of the Cogster partnership, Meder-Wilgus said, anyone can contribute to the business through the Cogster website. Contributions can be made in $10 increments; the minimum is $20.

For each $10 an individual puts toward the business, he or she will receive store credit worth $20, Meder-Wilgus said.

But the credit will not be available all at once; instead, participants will receive their credit via coupons returned to them over a specified period of time.

Cogster, also based in State College, will take a 10 percent cut from the contributions, said Cogster founder and President Steve Bisbee. He said his year-old company is using the same system to raise capital for 59 businesses overall, 51 of them in State College.

Bisbee acknowledged that the approach may "sound sort of fishy," but he called Cogster "a facilitator of your will" and a new means of backing local business. He said Cogster's 10 percent cut will help support his operation's growing infrastructure.

He approached Meder-Wilgus earlier this week, Bisbee said. He said he is not a Webster's regular but wants to raise his family in an environment of books.

"I wouldn't partner with anyone I wouldn't trust implicitly," Meder-Wilgus said. " ... He's got my stamp of approval."

She said she's looking to raise about $40,000 to $50,000 through the Cogster campaign, which will begin online at 10 a.m. today. The money will go toward preparing and opening a new Webster's location -- and not toward old debt, which Meder-Wilgus said she has under control.

News that Webster's may close or move emerged early last week. The popular business on South Allen Street, open for 11 years, started having difficulty paying its rent when the recession struck two years ago.

Meder-Wilgus said she had been working with her landlord, the local Kresge family, and was close to consolidating her debt when a notice to vacate arrived early this month.

Through the notice, Scott Kresge has requested that Webster's vacate by the end of July, she said. She thought the family was aware of her debt-refinancing and -consolidation effort, which would have allowed her to pay all the back rent, she said.

Meder-Wilgus said Kresge also declined a separate, recent proposal that would have fulfilled the back-rent obligation immediately and kept Webster's in its current location. Kresge has declined to comment publicly on the matter.

At the meeting Wednesday, Meder-Wilgus said he "has become obstinate and relentless" in refusing her requests for a little more time on South Allen Street. She said the location accounts for about 80 percent of the overall cash flow of her enterprise, which includes a secondary cafe on Aaron Drive, an online book-selling operation and a catering arm.

Still, Meder-Wilgus aired optimism on Wednesday. She said four State College landlords have approached her with options for new Webster's locations in the downtown area, and she's reviewing those possibilities now.

Petitions supporting Webster's have collected more than 2,300 signatures.

"Webster's is not the building, the stained ceiling and the crappy tile," she said at the Wednesday gathering. "Webster's is the people who fill it. ... It is my goal and commitment to honor what Webster's is to each of you."

The new Webster's location -- wherever it ends up -- may materialize in parts over time, Meder-Wilgus said. She said there could be a period of days, weeks or as many as two months from the closing of the current location to the opening of a new one.

But funds raised through Cogster will go a long way in helping the new location get off the ground, she said.

Webster's is still accepting help in other forms: through petition signatures; through public letters to help the business secure financing; and through pledges of volunteer labor to help the business with its move.

Supporters also are welcome to buy books there, now available at half price, and to buy specialized postcards that are designed to help generate funds. A benefit event is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at the business, with another concert in the works.

"We've got to keep our spirits up and support my staff. They've all been a little down," Meder-Wilgus told the Wednesday group. "Tell them it's going to be OK. Pet them -- in appropriate ways. ...

"It's going to be OK. Everyone just take a deep breath."

Earlier coverage: Webster's In Talks For New Location, Downtown Executive Says