Washington · Nonprofit
King County Library System Foundation
King County Library System Foundation (Washington) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,313,704 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($1,090,644). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 51
- Grants received
- $3.3M
- Net assets
- $12M
What King County Library System Foundation does
Mission
The King County Library System Foundation promotes literacy, learning, and libraries by providing support beyond public funding for initiatives and resources that enable the King County Library System to better serve the needs of our community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
The King County Library System Foundation added the following program services: LGBTQIA+, Design Thinking, and Climate Action Plan.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
KCLS Summer Reading was granted approximately $226,000. For low-income youth, simple access to books is the main barrier to reading engagement. This annual summer program provides books for all ages and focuses on habituating reading through challenges, incentives, and programs. Approximately $205,000 was granted to support KCLS Library innovation. These programs include Design thinking training, Community Creator, and National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) climate action plan. Collectively, these programs are improving the ability of KCLS to utilize data and technology to better serve its increasingly diverse communities. The other programs funded total approximately $76,000. Agility fund includes one million Reads, Amharic and Tigrignan Storytime, Library Services Platform Research, Regional Retreat, Books to support Author Event and Continuous Imaginative Play Renton Library.
$507,640 spentof which $507,640 as grants33% of program spendingApproximately $411,000 was granted to support Community Services & Outreach. A majority of this amount supported Peers in Libraries, approximately $304,000. This program connects library patrons who have barriers to obtaining basic needs met, are experiencing housing instability or are unhoused, or are living with HIV/AIDS with services and resources to move them toward stability and improved health. KCLS Extending Services to People Experiencing Homelessness program, increases access for people who experience barriers to utilizing library buildings and programs due to housing instability. This program brings library resources and programs to community locations such as tent cities, shelters, day centers, treatment clinics, food banks, and subsidized housing. Services include book distribution, hotspot lending, activity kits, referrals to public benefits, and early literacy programs. Services to patrons experiencing food insecurity program provides books and programming to ten food bank locations across our service area. each location receives $1,000 stipend for programming that includes story times, food literacy, and community resource navigation. The Welcoming Centers programs…
$411,000 spentof which $411,000 as grants27% of program spendingAccessibility and Inclusion programs were granted approximately $370,000. This set of programs advance DEI in our communities in a number of ways. First, Writers of Color Author Series a series of online programs featuring high-profile BIPOC authors. A BIPOC community leader from King County moderates each event. Next, Connect: Wi-Fi Hotspots and Laptops program makes internet access available to people who would not otherwise be able to access it by distributing laptops and hotspots to partner agencies that serve people who are experiencing housing insecurity, as well as low-income seniors, immigrants, refugees, and students. Connecting Older Adults Online program takes a holistic approach providing learning opportunities that build the digital skills necessary in todays world, and art and humanities activities that are necessary for emotional well-being as people age. Older adults and caregivers are served through 40 online digital literacy classes, 100 online arts classes, and an online author series. The LGBTQIA+ Intergen Peer Programming a pilot program in which library staff will collaborate with community organizations to develop a framework for designing intergenerational…
$370,000 spentof which $370,000 as grants24% of program spendingApproximately $253,000 was granted to support Lifelong Literacy & Learning Programs. These programs include Raising a Reader, Supporting Grade Level Reading, and Study Zone. Raising a Reader is a nationally recognized caregiver engagement and book delivery program, built upon research showing that childrens literacy increases when families are engaged in a regular reading routine and have access to high-interest books that are developmentally appropriate with diverse representation. Through partnerships with other agencies, we connect directly with high-priority audiences. KCLS provides developmentally appropriate and diverse books for young children and their families, which are distributed through community partners each week. Supporting Grade Level Reading OTTER & Sasquatch Award. A program that helps reluctant and eager readers alike develop and strengthen their love of reading by offering fun books, engaging activities, and the voice to vote for their favorite books of the year. Book sets are distributed using an equity lens prioritizing schools that are under-resourced. StudyZone, a volunteer-led program providing learning support in a consistent and positive environment…
$253,000 spentof which $253,000 as grants16% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,541,640.
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 2017 to 2018, from $3.9M to $6.9M (+79%).
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: 2020 3% · 2021 2% · 2022 7% · 2023 2% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of King County Library System 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. 2 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $75k → $588k.
12 of 51 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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 King County Library System Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 51 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
King County Library System Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
84% 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 King County Library System Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 53% · 2019 45% · 2020 35% · 2021 48% · 2022 37% · 2023 31% — 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
48% of King County Library System Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
80% of King County Library System Foundation'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 $651k that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 14 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
King County Library System Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding King County Library System Foundation receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$50k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like King County Library System 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
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 King County Library System 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 King County Library System Foundation?
- King County Library System Foundation (Washington) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,313,704 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($1,090,644). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does King County Library System Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 51 organizations giving $3,313,704 in grants to King County Library System Foundation, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of King County Library System Foundation?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,090,644 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like King County Library System Foundation 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 51 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