North Carolina · Nonprofit
DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION
DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $547,652 to it, the largest being The Forest At Duke Inc ($181,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $548k
- Net assets
- $7.8M
What Durham Library Foundation does
Mission
Mission - the mission of the Durham Library Foundation is to provide a margin of excellence for durham county library. We bridge the gap between county funding and need through investment management and resource development, including annual giving.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Programs - the foundation enables the library staff to meet the needs of the diverse community through innovative programs and projects with a mixture of endowment funds with specific purposes and the unrestricted funds in its portfolio. Spanish language classes were supported by an endowment focused on outreach. One of the long-standing programs funded by unrestricted dollars is the digging durham seed library, which is a free seed library and gardening resources for durham community members.
$53,317 spentof which $46,235 as grants24% of program spendingAdult humanities - the foundation's history began with strong support from the national endowment for humanities and local contributions in 2007. Since then, hundreds of presentations have featured international, national, and local experts of subjects including the arts, music, local history, religion, literature, and culture. Programs are often developed in partnership with our many local arts and humanities organizations, nonprofits, and institutions. One of the largest programs is the annual week-long library fest, which had record-breaking attendance of 2,030 community members and highlighted the state of north carolina and its people in 2025.
$130,356 spentof which $113,042 as grants58% of program spendingChildren's literacy - support for children's and youth literacy includes various programs and collections development. For example, summer reading is an annual program that receives substantial funding in 2025, 13,482 children and teens attended the summer reading programs. A boost for book babies engages parents and caregivers to enable children's literacy at home. Library fest also includes children and youth programming.
$42,916 spentof which $37,216 as grants19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $226,589.
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 2024 to 2025, from $6.0M to $8.0M (+32%).
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: 2017 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $11k → $70k.
5 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION’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
DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
60% 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 DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 66% · 2019 41% · 2020 31% · 2021 36% · 2022 57% · 2023 50% — 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
50% of DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
90% of DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION's grant income comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $147k 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
DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION
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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
37%
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 DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION: 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 DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $547,652 to it, the largest being The Forest At Duke Inc ($181,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $547,652 in grants to DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- The Forest At Duke Inc is the largest funder on record, with $181,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DURHAM LIBRARY FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 18 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