Rhode Island · Nonprofit
Community Libraries of Providence
Community Libraries of Providence (Rhode Island) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,497,972 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF RHODE ISLAND INC ($654,774). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.5M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $2.5M
- Net assets
- $2.8M
What Community Libraries of Providence does
Mission
To operate a public library system in providence, ri. The organization was formed to operate nine neighborhood community libraries. Providence community library serves the culturally rich people of providence by adapting to their evolving reading and information needs with a diverse staff that delivers relevant library resources and programs, cultivates meaningful partnerships and promotes vibrant neighborhoods.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Provided library services to over 600,000 patrons and visitors in nine neighborhood libraries in Providence, RI, including books, CDs, DVDs and other library materials with 393,300 items circulated. Our public computers and WiFi were used more than 400,000 times. We also provide educational and instructional programs including after school programs, homework help, GED classes in Spanish and English ESL classes, toddler and preschool story hours, reading clubs for children and adults in English and Spanish, computer classes in English and Spanish, resume classes and job search help. We partner with the city to provide reading opportunities to children during the summer. Over 30,500 participants attended our programs. During the pandemic we increased our WiFi availability to the community by installing Access Point units.
$6,286,965 spentof which $5,904,647 as grants$545,402 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,286,965.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2022 to 2023, from $3.4M to $3.5M (+5%).
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: 2021 82% · 2022 88% · 2023 95% · 2024 93% · 2025 91%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Community Libraries of Providence’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $197k → $380k.
6 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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 Community Libraries of Providence’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 funders by total. 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
Community Libraries of Providence has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
64% 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 Community Libraries of Providence.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 45% · 2019 48% · 2020 21% · 2021 28% · 2022 39% · 2023 27% — 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
52% of Community Libraries of Providence's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
58% of Community Libraries of Providence'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 $1.0M that is directly attributable, 61% of it comes from funders outside Rhode Island, across 11 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Community Libraries of Providence receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $2.5M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Community Libraries of Providence
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
92% 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 Community Libraries of Providence: 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 Community Libraries of Providence?
- Community Libraries of Providence (Rhode Island) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,497,972 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF RHODE ISLAND INC ($654,774). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Community Libraries of Providence have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $2,497,972 in grants to Community Libraries of Providence, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Community Libraries of Providence?
- UNITED WAY OF RHODE ISLAND INC is the largest funder on record, with $654,774 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Community Libraries of Providence 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 Community Libraries of Providence →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 42 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