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The Association for Rural and Small Libraries at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The Association for Rural and Small Libraries

Arsl builds strong communities through advocacy, professional development, and elevating the impact of rural and small libraries.

$725k
Granted FY2024still arriving
49
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2024.

Education$896kEnvironment$200k
02FY2024 · 49 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 49 grants below total $591,054, the rows itemized in this filing. The $724,688 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $133,634 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k12 grants · $80k
  • $10k–50k37 grants · $511k
$14,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$355k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Town of Voluntown$15,000
Town of Effingham$15,000
Town of Holbrook$15,000
China Library Association$15,000
Town of Hancock$15,000
Somesville Library Association$15,000
Moultonborough Public Library$15,000
Cook Memorial Library$15,000
Town of Webster$15,000
Cutler Memorial Library$15,000
Olive G Pettis Memorial Library$15,000
Town of East Bridgewater$15,000
Town of Monkton$15,000
Arvin A Brown Public Library$15,000
Orford Social Library$15,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 88% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Town of Holbrook: $15k → 7%ASHBY FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $15k → 8%Town of Hancock: $15k → 12%Town of Granville: $15k → 17%VOLUNTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY: $15k → 9%RUSSELL MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $15k → 9%Town of Warren: $14k → 9%Town of Westford: $13k → 10%Town of Rockingham: $15k → 11%New Ipswich Library: $14k → 7%WILLIAM A BACHELDER LIBRARY: $15k → 7%SANBORNTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: $15k → 9%FRIENDS OF LEE LIBRARY LEE PUBLIC: $15k → 9%Cook Memorial Library: $15k → 9%Olive G Pettis Memorial Library: $15k → 10%PIERMONT PUBLIC LIBRARY: $17k → 10%WHITEFIELD OFFICIAL LIBRARY FRIENDS: $14k → 13%Whitefield Library: $15k → 9%BUCK MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $15k → 11%China Library Association: $15k → 12%LIVERMORE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $15k → 13%Monson Free Public Library: $14k → 15%WTA Hansen Memorial Library: $15k → 15%Town of Plainville: $15k → 7%Town of East Bridgewater: $15k → 8%Town of Webster: $15k → 11%Town of Voluntown: $15k → 9%Arvin A Brown Public Library: $15k → 9%Peacham Library: $15k → 12%FRIENDS OF THE MEREDITH PUBLIC LIBR: $15k → 9%Town of Effingham: $15k → 9%HARRISON VILLAGE LIBRARY: $15k → 7%D A HURD PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOC: $15k → 9%Somesville Library Association: $15k → 11%Hubbard Free Library: $15k → 12%BIXBY MEMORIAL FREE LIBRARY: $15k → 9%Cutler Memorial Library: $15k → 9%Wells River Library Association: $15k → 10%Moultonborough Public Library: $15k → 9%Orford Social Library: $15k → 10%CASCO LIBRARY ASSOCIATION DBA CASC: $15k → 7%HOLLIS CENTER PUBLIC LIBRARY: $15k → 9%CHARLOTTE HOBBS MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $15k → 13%FRIENDS OF THE MILBRIDGE PUBLIC LIB: $15k → 16%CUSHMAN LIBRARY: $15k → 14%LAWRENCE MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $15k → 9%CUTLER MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $15k → 9%LINCOLN LIBRARY INC: $15k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

12%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$133k · 5 repeat orgs$963k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 44 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
40

Total granted

$133k
$441k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+42%

Still filing today

40%
28%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 12% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $522k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’24
RenewedFirst-time
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • RM
    RUSSELL MEMORIAL LIBRARY
    2× · 2022–2024 · $30k
  • CM
    CUTLER MEMORIAL LIBRARY
    2× · 2022–2024 · $30k · revenue +25%
  • TO
    TOWN OF BERNARDSTON
    2× · 2022–2024 · $26k

Funded once

  • PP
    PIERMONT PUBLIC LIBRARY
    one grant, 2022 · $17k
  • BM
    Bixby Memorial Free Librarygraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +31%
  • CL
    CASCO LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +114%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Simsbury Free Library
Education
2
Riverton Free Library Association
—
3
Quechee Library Association

The Quechee Library serves as a public library and freely provides access and materials for information, lifelong learning, entertainment, and reflection, as well as programs to foster community and engagement.

—
4
The Public Library of New London

The Public Library of New London is a private, not-for-profit institution that serves the needs of the New London community by providing free access to diverse ideas and information through a variety of library materials, services, and…

Education
5
Field Memorial Library
—
6
Morris Plains Library Association

Public Library providing books and computer network to the public

Education
7
William B Ogden Free Library

To provide library services to local area residents.

Education
8
Odell Nebraska Public Library
Education
9
Blake Memorial Library Association

Public Library

—
10
Newfield Public Library

The library was established to provide public access to various published mediums, including books, periodicals, reference materials, and various audiovisual materials.

—
11
Mountain Lakes Free Public Library

The mission of the Mountain Lakes Free Public Library is to provide free access to books, periodicals, magazines, audio, video, digital and internet media

Education
12
Bowdoinham Public Library

To provide and maintain a public library which provides free services and programming to the residents of Bowdoinham (pop. c. 3000), lends books and other media, offers educational and reading programs for children, youth and people of all…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greensboro Free Library; the most unlike its peers is China Library Association Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

30 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 30 of the 89 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/30
Grantees still filing
17/30
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

+73 more: $909,384 · Other+73 moreBixby Memorial Free Library: $15,000 · EducationBixby Memorial Free…D A HURD PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 · EducationD A HURD PUBLIC LIB…SOMESVILLE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 · EducationSOMESVILLE LIBRARY …THE HARRISON VILLAGE LIBRARY: $15,000 · EducationTHE HARRISON VILLAG…CHARLOTTE HOBBS MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $15,000 · EducationCHARLOTTE HOBBS MEM…WHITEFIELD LIBRARY: $15,000 · EducationWHITEFIELD LIBRARYLincoln Library Inc: $14,952 · EducationLincoln Library IncHUBBARD FREE LIBRARY: $14,500 · EducationHUBBARD FREE LIBRAR…WHITEFIELDS OFFICIAL LIBRARY FRIENDS: $14,410 · EducationWHITEFIELDS OFFICIA…NORMAN WILLIAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY INC: $12,500 · EducationNORMAN WILLIAMS PUB…BRIDGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: $10,885 · EducationBRIDGTON PUBLIC LIB…FRIENDS OF THE GLADYS E KELLY PUBLIC LIBRARY INC: $9,000 · Education+4 more: $20,400 · Education+4 more
Other$909,384Education$186,647

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCUTLER MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $30,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetORFORD SOCIAL LIBRARY: $25,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetBixby Memorial Free Library: $15,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetCASCO LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetD A HURD PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetARVIN A BROWN PUBLIC LIBRARY: $15,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetSOMESVILLE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetCHINA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 47% of budgetWELLS RIVER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $15,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetTHE HARRISON VILLAGE LIBRARY: $15,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetWHITEFIELD LIBRARY: $15,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetBuck Memorial Library: $15,000 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetLincoln Library Inc: $14,952 over 1y, 22% of budgetPeacham Library Inc: $14,600 over 1y, 13% of budgetHUBBARD FREE LIBRARY: $14,500 over 1y, 10% of budgetNew Ipswich Library: $14,113 over 1y, 21% of budgetNORMAN WILLIAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY INC: $12,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBRIDGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: $10,885 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTHE LICIA & MASON BEEKLEY COMMUNITY LIBRARY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE GLADYS E KELLY PUBLIC LIBRARY INC: $9,000 over 1y, 9.4% of budgetGREENSBORO FREE LIBRARY: $7,500 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetCLAPP MEMORIAL LIBRARY INC: $6,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetGaylord Memorial Library: $5,800 over 1y, 17% of budgetLUBEC MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $5,400 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetCRAFTSBURY PUBLIC LIBRARY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetBENNINGTON FREE LIBRARY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDYER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds CUTLER MEMORIAL LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds ORFORD SOCIAL LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds Bixby Memorial Free Library ↗
  • Who funds CASCO LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds D A HURD PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds ARVIN A BROWN PUBLIC LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds SOMESVILLE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds CHINA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds WELLS RIVER LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds THE HARRISON VILLAGE LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds CHARLOTTE HOBBS MEMORIAL LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds WHITEFIELD LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds Buck Memorial Library ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Stephen & Tabitha Kin…Maine Community Found…Center for Technology…The Vermont Community…Maine Humanities Coun…Davis Family Foundati…Vermont Humanities Co…Vermont Afterschool I…Vermont Council on th…New Hampshire Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation IncNY22.7× affinity9 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation Inc · Maine Community Foundation Inc · Center for Technology and Civic Life · The Vermont Community Foundation · Maine Humanities Council · Davis Family Foundation · Vermont Humanities Council · Vermont Afterschool Inc · Vermont Council on the Arts Inc · New Hampshire Charitable Foundation · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Association for Rural and Small Libraries funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Association for Rural and Small Libraries. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Cutler Memorial Library: 12% of income from government
  • Bennington Free Library: 3% of income from government
  • Peacham Library Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Greensboro Free Library: 1% of income from government
  • Craftsbury Public Library Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Lincoln Library Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Bixby Memorial Free Library: 0% of income from government
  • Norman Williams Public Library Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 89 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Association for Rural and Small Libraries’ filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home