Minnesota · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY
FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY (Minnesota) receives grants from 112 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,997,128 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($708,964). 73 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 112
- Grants received
- $5.0M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Friends of the Hennepin County Library does
Mission
Friends of the Hennepin County Library is the fundraising partner of hennepin county library and builds awareness, appreciation and support for our world-class library.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Library support: as the library's nonprofit fundraising partner, fhcl builds library awareness and appreciation through compelling storytelling and raises significant financial resources for library strategic priorities, including workforce development, community outreach, youth development and the world class collection. Together, we envision a hennepin county where library services ensure that every person has the opportunity and resources to read, graduate, engage, work and learn.
$2,590,310 spentof which $2,500,000 as grants77% of program spendingPen pals: pen pals is the highly acclaimed, longest running literary series in the twin cities featuring award-winning, best-selling authors who speak on their life and work as writers. This author lecture series generates income supporting the organization's mission. Forty-one volunteers assisted staff at five in-person events, contributing 280 hours to the program. In 2025, 4,500 people attended in-person events, and 3,320 households attended virtual livestream programs or on-demand recordings.
$295,126 spent$582,147 earned by the program9% of program spendingPublic awareness and donor engagement: talk of the stacks is a free author lecture series produced by friends with guest authors who focus on contemporary literature and culture across an array of social, economic and global topics. The 2025 season included four in-person events, that also offered a virtual livestream option, and one virtual-only program. In total, 740 people attended in-person events, 2,190 households attended virtual programs and 1,590 accessed on-demand recordings throughout the year at no cost. In addition to these programs, one author/book club panel event was produced with 225 people attending in-person, 140 households attending virtually, and another 290 attendees viewing the on-demand recording thereafter. Finally, one library fundraiser was (continued on schedule o)attended by 151 guests, and one donor stewardship luncheon was attended by 116 guests. Further public awareness pieces on behalf of the library system: 2,500 printed event guides were distributed to audience members at the five in-person pen pals events and four in-person talk of the stacks events, and 1,036 attendees accessed virtual event guides. More than 25,984 print newsletters were…
$482,854 spent14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,368,290.
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 2020 to 2021, from $5.4M to $7.9M (+48%).
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% · 2018 2% · 2019 5% · 2020 3% · 2021 2% · 2022 5% · 2023 2% · 2024 2% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Kristi Pearson
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 46 funders, grant income rose $249k → $772k.
25 of 112 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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 FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 112 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
FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 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 FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 17% · 2019 15% · 2020 18% · 2021 17% · 2022 13% · 2023 16% — 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
49% of FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY draws 51% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 21 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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.
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY: 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 FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY?
- FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY (Minnesota) receives grants from 112 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,997,128 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($708,964). 73 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 112 organizations giving $4,997,128 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY, 73 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $708,964 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 112 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