Rhode Island · Nonprofit
PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY
PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY (Rhode Island) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,572,941 to it, the largest being FIDELITY FOUNDATION ($950,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.4M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $4.6M
- Net assets
- $7.7M
What Providence Public Library does
Mission
Providence Public Library engages learners, inspires thinkers, and connects diverse communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Providence Public Library (ppl) provides free public library services through its rich and historic physical and digital collections, extensive information resources, thought-provoking exhibitions, impactful educational programs, and expert staff. During the year ended june 30, 2025, an estimated 120,975 people visited the library. Total usage of library resources and materials exceeded 1,781,516. Public access computers were used 18,770 times, and the public accessed library wi-fi 235,931 times. Library staff provided 54,743 information and reference services to patrons. See schedule o for additional information about the extensive programs offered.
$4,970,232 spent$75,636 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,970,232.
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 2021 to 2022, from $37M to $27M (−28%).
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 16% · 2018 8% · 2019 6% · 2020 15% · 2021 14% · 2022 13% · 2023 14% · 2024 36% · 2025 36%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Hillias J Martin Jr
Executive director
Board chair
Christopher Stevens
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $241k → $448k.
6 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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: $8.9M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Providence Public Library Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY raised.
From the IRS filings of PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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 PUBLIC LIBRARY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 36% · 2019 62% · 2020 50% · 2021 23% · 2022 28% · 2023 34% — 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 PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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 PUBLIC LIBRARY draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $253k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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 PUBLIC LIBRARY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.6M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$1.5M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.1M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$700k
- Department of Labor$200k
- National Archives and Records Administration$64k
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 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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 2 related entities
- Providence Public Library Foundation · exempt
- Ppl Support Corporation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PROVIDENCE 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 PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY (Rhode Island) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,572,941 to it, the largest being FIDELITY FOUNDATION ($950,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $4,572,941 in grants to PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- FIDELITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $950,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY 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.
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 75 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