Maryland · Nonprofit
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY (Maryland) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,610,379 to it, the largest being THE HELENA FOUNDATION INC ($1,319,342). 81 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $66M
- Funders on record
- 119
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $131M
What Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City does
Mission
The mission of the Enoch Pratt Free Library is to empower enrich and enhance the quality of life for all through equitable access to information services and opportunity for all rich and poor without distinction of race or color.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Neighborhood Library Services NLS: The program is responsible for the operation and maintenance of 21 neighborhood libraries and for pickup and delivery of materials from those locations. Neighborhood libraries circulated 819,489 physical items as well as a share of the 1.41 million in total electronic material circulated. NLS provided assistance on 668,870 reference questions welcomed 925,145 visitors and hosted 6,270 programs.
$42,096,685 spent68% of program spendingSLRC: State Library Resource Center SLRC: The program is responsible for the operation of the Central Library which also serves as the Maryland State Library Resource Center SLRC. Unlike other states Maryland does not have a state library to provide interlibrary loan reference state depository and other specialized services. SLRC circulated 399,921 physical items as well as a share of the 1.41 million in electronic material circulated. SLRC provided assistance on 267,704 reference questions and welcomed 284,986 visitors.
$19,453,348 spent32% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $61,550,033.
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 2024 to 2025, from $206M to $138M (−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: 2021 84% · 2022 83% · 2023 81% · 2024 81% · 2025 87%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Board chair
Christine Espenshade
Chair Board of Trustees and Directors
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 44 funders to 59 funders, grant income fell $2.1M → $1.8M.
17 of 119 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.2M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Baltimore Community Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY raised.
From the IRS filings of ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 119 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
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
27% 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 ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 20% · 2019 17% · 2020 16% · 2021 15% · 2022 16% · 2023 17% — 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
60% of ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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 ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY's grant income comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY has grown faster than half of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY: 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 ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY?
- ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY (Maryland) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,610,379 to it, the largest being THE HELENA FOUNDATION INC ($1,319,342). 81 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY have?
- IRS filings report 119 organizations giving $12,610,379 in grants to ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY, 81 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY?
- THE HELENA FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,319,342 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City →
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 119 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