Kentucky · Nonprofit
LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY (Kentucky) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $622,078 to it, the largest being James A and Martha R Brown Charitable Foundation Inc ($500,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,681 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,681 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Ee Murry Family Foundationshared funderslocalportfolio match
- Hilary Boone Foundation Incshared funderslocalportfolio match
- The Rosenthal Foundation Inclocalportfolio match
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.
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 94% · 2018 94% · 2019 94% · 2020 93% · 2021 92% · 2022 96% · 2023 92% · 2024 91% · 2025 90%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY’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. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $100k → $503k.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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: $3.8M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Lexington Public Library Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY raised.
From the IRS filings of LEXINGTON 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
LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 96% · 2023 99% — broadly stable.
“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
25% of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 33% 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
100% of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY's grant income comes from Kentucky funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 9 funders put you under-funded among the 276 organizations that share them.
- Ee Murry Family Foundationshared funderslocalportfolio matchKY · backs 21 organizations that share your funders · funds 27 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Hilary Boone Foundation Incshared funderslocalportfolio matchKY · backs 22 organizations that share your funders · funds 34 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- The Rosenthal Foundation Inclocalportfolio matchKY · funds 15 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Marksbury Family Foundation Inclocalportfolio matchKY · funds 13 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- The Association for Rural and Small Librariesportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Finger Lakes Library Systemportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pennsylvania Humanities Councilportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Owwl Library Systemportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- McInroy-Sheffer People Trust Taportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Eric & Jane Nord Family Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- United Way of the Bluegrass Incshared funderslocalKY · backs 19 organizations that share your funders · funds 51 organizations near you
- The Samuel M Fleming Foundationshared fundersTN · backs 13 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Lexington Public Library Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEXINGTON 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY (Kentucky) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $622,078 to it, the largest being James A and Martha R Brown Charitable Foundation Inc ($500,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $622,078 in grants to LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- James A and Martha R Brown Charitable Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. 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 9funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing