Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY
LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,818,135 to it, the largest being LIBRARY SYSTEM OF LANCASTER COUNTY ($3,634,873). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.3M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $7.8M
- Net assets
- $13M
What Lancaster Public Library does
Mission
The Lancaster Public Library inspires, empowers, and strengthens our community by connecting people with information, ideas, and enriching experiences.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Reading/educational resources provided for the public in the lancaster county, pa area.
$2,281,083 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,281,083.
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 2022 to 2023, from $11M to $15M (+38%).
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 35% · 2018 53% · 2019 47% · 2020 55% · 2021 35% · 2022 25% · 2023 14% · 2024 48%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY’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. 0 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $737k → $1.2M.
9 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 58% · 2019 62% · 2020 63% · 2021 44% · 2022 37% · 2023 42% — 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
48% of LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
98% of LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY 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 LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $35k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$35k
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 LANCASTER 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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 LANCASTER 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 LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,818,135 to it, the largest being LIBRARY SYSTEM OF LANCASTER COUNTY ($3,634,873). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $7,818,135 in grants to LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- LIBRARY SYSTEM OF LANCASTER COUNTY is the largest funder on record, with $3,634,873 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LANCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Lancaster Public Library →
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 39 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