Rhode Island · Nonprofit
RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION
RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION (Rhode Island) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $334,041 to it, the largest being RALPH R PAPITTO & BARBARA A PAPITTO PRIVATE FAMILY FOUNDATION ($200,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $334k
- Net assets
- $12M
What Rhode Island Bar Foundation does
Mission
Rhode Island Bar Foundation's mission is to foster and maintain the honor and integrity of the profession of law and to study, improve and facilitate the administration of justice in rhode island, as well as promote the study of law, research therein and diffusion of knowledge and to promote high standards of legal education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Core program - maintains and operates a facility that rents space to a related non-profit organization, the ri bar association.
$176,410 spent11% of program spendingThe interest on lawyers trust accounts - collects money from iolta accounts from ri attorneys. The income is than distributed to other non profit organizations that provide legal assistance to the poor of rhode island, promote knowledge of the law, improvement of administration for justice.
$1,203,754 spentof which $1,203,754 as grants78% of program spendingScholarships
$156,000 spentof which $156,000 as grants10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,536,164.
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 2023 to 2024, from $7.0M to $10M (+48%).
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.
78% of RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income fell $75k → $53k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 RHODE ISLAND BAR 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
RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 97%; 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: 2020 67% · 2021 94% · 2022 79% · 2023 95% — 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.
Where its funders are
78% of RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Rhode Island funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $41 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like RHODE ISLAND BAR 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 Rhode Island
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
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Rhode Island Bar Association · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RHODE ISLAND BAR 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 RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION?
- RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION (Rhode Island) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $334,041 to it, the largest being RALPH R PAPITTO & BARBARA A PAPITTO PRIVATE FAMILY FOUNDATION ($200,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $334,041 in grants to RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION?
- RALPH R PAPITTO & BARBARA A PAPITTO PRIVATE FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RHODE ISLAND BAR FOUNDATION 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 6 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