Rhode Island · Nonprofit
BLITHEWOLD INC
BLITHEWOLD INC (Rhode Island) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,195,294 to it, the largest being VAN SLOUN FOUNDATION ($156,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Blithewold Inc does
Mission
To preserve and share the horticulture, history and beauty of blithewold as an authentic 'country place era' waterfront estate with the founding family's distinctive arboretum, gardens, mansion and collections.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Preservation - to preserve and maintain the historical mansion and outbuildings, arboretum and grounds. Properties are open to the general public, and a balance is maintained between the site use and preservation efforts. Member & visitor services department offers tours and sponsors events for the enjoyment of its members and visitors in an effort to further an understanding of the estate's cultural and historic heritage, and build a greater awareness and appreciation for the art and science of horticulture.
$931,732 spent43% of program spendingMember & visitor services-offer tours and sponsor events for the enjoyment of members and general public in order to further an understanding of the estate's cultural and historical heritage. Cultivate memberships for blithewold. Blithewold mansion, gardens & arboretum has 1,400 members, 35,000 visitors (estimated) annually. The property is open to the public 365 days a year and the mansion is open 120 days a year.
$1,132,385 spent$800,747 earned by the program52% of program spendingEducation programs - various educational classes are offered to members and the general public year round. Topics are based on the science of horticulture, garden maintenance, landscape and garden design principles, and environmental science.
$106,111 spent$117,436 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,170,228.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $12M to $13M (+10%).
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: 2022 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
30% of BLITHEWOLD INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 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
Karen Binder
Executive director
Board chair
Jeff Hirsh
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 15 funders, grant income fell $204k → $148k.
8 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 BLITHEWOLD INC’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
BLITHEWOLD INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
46% 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 BLITHEWOLD INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 20% · 2019 36% · 2020 25% · 2021 28% · 2022 27% · 2023 29% — 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
67% of BLITHEWOLD INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% 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
BLITHEWOLD INC draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $538k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.
Against its field
BLITHEWOLD INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BLITHEWOLD INC
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
41%
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 BLITHEWOLD INC: 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 BLITHEWOLD INC?
- BLITHEWOLD INC (Rhode Island) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,195,294 to it, the largest being VAN SLOUN FOUNDATION ($156,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLITHEWOLD INC have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $1,195,294 in grants to BLITHEWOLD INC, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLITHEWOLD INC?
- VAN SLOUN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $156,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLITHEWOLD INC 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 Blithewold →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 27 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing