Rhode Island · Nonprofit
PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM
PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM (Rhode Island) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,852,877 to it, the largest being THE CHAMPLIN FOUNDATION ($675,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $17M
What Providence Athenaeum does
Mission
The Providence Athenaeum is an independent member-supported library and cultural center, founded in 1836 and open to the public. Having always been organized as a cultural institution for the benefit of the entire community, the athenaeum obtained recognition as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization in the 1970s. Today it continues to fulfill the intention of its founders by offering a broad range of services to a diverse public, with over 61,000 visitors in 2024-25, more than 2,600 of whom support the library directly through membership. The collections, programming, and the services we provide are of primary interest to local as well as national authors, educators, musicians, actors, poets, artists, and journalists from all walks of life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Circulating library: the Providence Athenaeum has always been dedicated to serving the general reader and public. The library houses over 175,000 books, including contemporary titles and materials on cd and dvd. The athenaeum selects the best published materials available each year in a variety of subjects for the informed reader. Our collections are accessible onsite and through an automated cataloging system, and a continually updated website. During fiscal year 2024-25, we added 1,208 items, circulated 27,114 items, answered 177 reference questions, and conducted 25 research appointments.
$796,201 spent$30,816 earned by the program68% of program spendingProgramming: the Providence Athenaeum offers year-round children's programs, including story hours, arts and crafts, and seasonal events. Adults also enjoy a variety of lively programs such as poetry readings, lectures on travel, contemporary issues, and the arts. During fiscal year 2024-25, we hosted 44 children's events with 1120 attending, 249 adult programs with 8,442 attending, and curated 23 exhibits and 54 tours.
$295,820 spent25% of program spendingHistoric preservation of collections and building: the athenaeum's collections and historic building are maintained in the spirit of its founders in order to enrich the lives of all who enter its granite walls. The athenaeum, known by its handsome greek revival building, maintains special collections that are valuable and rare. Our collections highlight the strengths of the Providence Athenaeum and its antecedents since 1753, in documenting the history of the book and book culture in providence during the 18th and 19th centuries. The building & grounds committee, a board committee oversees the building, furnishings, and grounds of the Providence Athenaeum, prioritizes the need for elective repairs or changes and makes recommendations to the board of directors on how to proceed.
$83,201 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,175,222.
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 $13M to $16M (+22%).
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 1% · 2018 3% · 2019 3% · 2020 11% · 2021 0% · 2022 11% · 2023 15% · 2024 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
49% of PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM’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. 1 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
Matt Burriesci
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $68k → $127k.
6 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
42% 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 PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 36% · 2019 63% · 2020 47% · 2021 55% · 2022 53% · 2023 63% — 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
40% of PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM draws 84% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $674k 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
PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $399k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$399k
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 PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM
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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM: 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 PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM?
- PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM (Rhode Island) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,852,877 to it, the largest being THE CHAMPLIN FOUNDATION ($675,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $1,852,877 in grants to PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM?
- THE CHAMPLIN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $675,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 Providence Athenaeum →
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 36 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