Illinois · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES
CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $445,000 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($245,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.8M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $445k
- Net assets
- $22M
What Center for Research Libraries does
Mission
To foster and advance scholarly and scientific research through cost-effective, cooperative programs that provide reliable access through traditional and electronic means of collections and content of research library materials to support research and scholarships.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Acquisitions - this program consists of activities supporting the acquisition and processing of collection materials, including surveying of members on collection needs, selection and subscription costs, ordering, transporting and receiving materials.
$1,281,992 spent18% of program spendingCataloging and metadata - this program involves production and processing of preliminary and final catalog records, finding aids for the center's collection materials and metadata for electronic resources including those produced and/or acquired by the center.
$1,256,460 spent$1,200 earned by the program18% of program spendingService and delivery - the center delivers an estimated 33 million pages of collection materials to member institutions and other clients each year. Activities include receiving and processing requests for the center's collection materials from member libraries and clients, retrieval and preparation of materials for delivery, shipping, fulfillment of electronic document delivery requests, receipt and re-shelving of returned materials and fulfillment and processing of member purchase requests for individual items.
$1,340,465 spent$19,702 earned by the program19% of program spendingArea materials projects (amps) - this program involves specific support for the area materials projects and other self-funded area studies projects undertaken by the center for partner organizations. Activities include identification and procurement of materials for preservation, microfilming and digitization as well as conversion and cataloging of those materials.conversion of materials - the center preserves unique and at-risk cultural and historical materials through microfilming and digital conversion. Materials are organized, analyzed, collated and shipped to and from service providers by the center and partner organizations. Film and digital copies are produced and distributed.collections storage and maintenance - the center maintains active and inactive collections consisting of an estimated five million volumes or equivalents in its repository facility. These collections are in paper, microform and electronic media. Activities associated with storage and physical maintenance of the center's film and paper collections include sorting, shelving, labeling, housing, binding conservation work. Also included are the costs of maintaining, monitoring and improving the portion of…
$3,289,104 spent$7,537,720 earned by the program46% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,168,021.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $24M to $16M (−33%).
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 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Denise Stephens
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2020: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $225k → $220k.
From the IRS filings of CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES’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
CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 89% · 2020 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
Where its funders are
55% of CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Government funding CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $283k on record — $207k federal, $76k state.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$75k
- Department of Defense$67k
- Department of Agriculture$61k
- Environmental Protection Agency$4k
- OK$75k
- CT$2k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES: 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 CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES?
- CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $445,000 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($245,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $445,000 in grants to CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES?
- JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $245,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Center for Research Libraries →
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 2 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