Rhode Island · Nonprofit
BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND
BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND (Rhode Island) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $764,122 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF RHODE ISLAND INC ($367,282). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $913k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $764k
- Net assets
- $248k
What Better Lives Rhode Island does
Mission
Better Lives Rhode Island is a non-profit agency whose mission is to offer stability, justice, and hope to those in need through advocacy and direct service.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Downtown food pantry - serving all of providence, guests can access the pantry twice a month and shop from the shelves for the food they choose to eat ("client choice"). The program serves approximately 2,000 people monthly.
$179,549 spent$1,869 earned by the program23% of program spendingHomeless outreach and supportive services program - client centered working with newly and chronically homeless individuals, people with physical and mental disabilities, prisoners upon release, those suffering from addictions and in recovery. Our team of case managers are experienced in addressing barriers to housing such as substance use, legal issues, low-income, poor credit, etc. We provide basic needs items (a mailing address, clothing, toiletries, photo ids and transportation assistance), housing navigation and stabilization services, and help clients develop a plan for securing and maintaining housing that is safe, affordable and permanent. The most important thing we offer is hope and someone who will listen.
$554,970 spentof which $8,233 as grants71% of program spendingFriday night community meal site - every friday evening from 3:00 - 5:00pm, guests are served a nutritious sit-down dinner. Programming is offered each week: health screenings, legal clinics, snap outreach and more. Homeless outreach workers are on-site to connect those who so desire with shelter and resources. The program serves approximately 5,000 people annually.
$47,968 spent6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $782,487.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $148k to $353k (+138%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 41% · 2020 35% · 2021 58% · 2022 67% · 2023 58% · 2024 70% · 2025 58%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Paula Hudson
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income fell $99k → $44k.
3 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
85% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 94% · 2019 100% · 2020 48% · 2021 49% · 2022 66% · 2023 28% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
83% of BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
78% of BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $165k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from funders outside Rhode Island, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $599k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND?
- BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND (Rhode Island) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $764,122 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF RHODE ISLAND INC ($367,282). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $764,122 in grants to BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND?
- UNITED WAY OF RHODE ISLAND INC is the largest funder on record, with $367,282 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BETTER LIVES RHODE ISLAND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Better Lives Rhode Island →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 16 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing