Kentucky · Nonprofit
LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION
LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION (Kentucky) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,054,995 to it, the largest being MARKSBURY FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($900,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $727k
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $2.8M
What Lexington Public Library Foundation does
Mission
The Lexington Public Library Foundation envisions a thriving public library enriched by philanthropy and advocacy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
To provide financial support for specific projects of any type it considers appropriate and to assist the board of trustees of the library and its advisory board in making the library more valuable to the entire community.
$561,105 spentof which $561,105 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $561,105.
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 $1.0M to $3.4M (+235%).
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.
81% of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% 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
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
Heather Dieffenbach
Executive director
Board chair
Ralph Coldiron
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $60k → $798k.
3 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION’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 FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 60% · 2019 55% · 2020 63% · 2021 56% · 2022 79% · 2023 38% — 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
50% of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
72% of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Kentucky funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $385k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 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 Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
37%
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 · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 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 LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION (Kentucky) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,054,995 to it, the largest being MARKSBURY FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($900,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $2,054,995 in grants to LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- MARKSBURY FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $900,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEXINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION 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 22 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing