Washington · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY (Washington) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $214,591 to it, the largest being SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION ($80,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $282k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $215k
- Net assets
- $283k
What Friends of the Seattle Public Library does
Mission
The Friends of the Seattle Public Library's mission is to elevate the Library and inspire the love of reading in our communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Distribution of free book bags to children receiving their first library cards, providing service items (headphones and USB drives) for distribution to Library patrons, and other Library projects and programs.
$47,132 spent20% of program spendingThe Friends of the Seattle Public Library operates the FriendShop, a gift store located in the Central Branch of The Seattle Public Library. The FriendShop acts as an ambassador for The Seattle Public Library, selling used books and gift items that celebrate reading and support the Library's mission of bringing people, information, and ideas together to enrich lives and build community. The FriendShop sells custom-designed items related to The Seattle Public Library, such as t-shirts and book bags. The FriendShop also sells memberships to The Friends of the Seattle Public Library and disseminates information about the Friends. An additional used book store, located in a community known to be a book desert, operates to further The Friends' mission by making books more accessible to this community.
$173,111 spent$154,267 earned by the program74% of program spendingThe Friends of the Seattle Public Library advocate on behalf of The Seattle Public Library. The Friends educate and inform its members, library patrons and the greater Seattle community about the Library, its services and the issues that it faces. The Friends support the Library's efforts to create lifelong readers through its Books For Teachers program. Through its surplus book program, the Friends gave books to community organizations in Seattle, including food banks, health clinics, homeless shelters, children's programs, education organizations, and many others.
$14,541 spent$4,800 earned by the program6% 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: $234,784.
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 2020 to 2021, from $258k to $286k (+11%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 19% · 2021 29% · 2022 15% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
32% of FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 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
2018 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $29k → $15k.
4 of 10 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 FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY’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
FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% 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
69% 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 SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 95% · 2019 50% · 2020 85% · 2021 51% · 2022 47% · 2023 99% — 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.
How long its funders stay
20% of FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
64% of FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $57k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 22,838 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,838 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 SEATTLE PUBLIC 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 SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY (Washington) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $214,591 to it, the largest being SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION ($80,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $214,591 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $80,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 10 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