California · Nonprofit
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,402,577 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,337,552). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 65
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $7.3M
What San Diego Public Library Foundation does
Mission
The library foundation strengthens communities by supporting excellence in the san diego public library system through philanthropy, advocacy and outreach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Library foundation sd support for programs, books and other materials and equipment helped the library be the place for opportunity, discovery, and inspiration. Programs supported by library foundation sd donors prepared learners of all ages to succeed in school, the workplace and in their communities. From supporting online and in-library homework help, training on computer programming that sparks an interest in technology fields, to classes on computer skills and writing a resume, library donors helped ensure academic and career success.
$1,157,654 spentof which $1,157,654 as grants63% of program spendingThe san diego public library offers 12 idea labs across the 37-branch system, the labs are built to be makerspaces for patrons to innovate, discover, experience and achieve and overall inspire an interest in science, technology, design, and 21st century skills. In each of these idea labs, patrons of varying ages can work together, alone, or with library staff on creative projects. The goal of a makerspace is to allow patrons to learn through direct experimentation and from each other. This is directly in line with the san diego public library's mission: to inspire lifelong learning through connections to knowledge and each other. Idea labs do not require users to have a library card and the type of equipment varies across the san diego public library. The legler benbough teen idea lab, located inside the valencia park/malcolm x branch library, offers advanced technology and training programs for teens ages 12 to 18, and prides it's self as being a space designed to provide youth with the opportunity to build job skills in a range of areas, by including a recording studio as well as 3d printers, a die cut machine, and imac computers.. The idea lab is at the san ysidro library…
$209,000 spent11% of program spendingThe media arts workforce development initiative @ the library is offered in two parts. The first is a paid 6-week training program in video and multimedia design and production, in collaboration with media arts center san diego (macsd) held at the city heights/weingart library in small cohorts of 10 students. The second part of the initiative is a 450-hour paid internship to be completed in six to 12 months with the city of san diego in several city departments including the library, economic development, communications, and environmental services. Since it was started in 2021, 136 students have completed the media arts workforce development initiative @ the library. Follow-up surveys of these graduates show that 94 percent report using the digital skills they learned to do something new or different while 97 percent reported completing a task or goal they could not do or could not do as well before. An average of 80 percent of students from each 6-week training cohort transition into paid internships with the library and other city departments. Twenty-five percent of the program's participants in fiscal year 2023 were hired by the library department after completing their paid…
$127,500 spent7% of program spendingThe library foundation actively markets library programs and the importance of library service to supporters and potential supporters, elected leaders and to library users. The library foundation produces a series of regular email newsletters to library card holders and to library donors and supporters. These publications market the value of libraries to san diego and promote monthly library programs and other services. The foundation also coordinates advocacy efforts among a coalition of the library foundation, friends of the library and the board of library commissioners to educate elected leaders to the positive impact of libraries on the community and the need for adequate public support.
$344,982 spent19% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,839,136.
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 $6.5M to $11M (+65%).
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: 2021 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION’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. 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
Patrick Stewart
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Renee Schor
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 24 funders, grant income fell $2.2M → $873k.
13 of 65 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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: $2.5M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Friends of the San Diego Public Library). These are real filings, and they are not money SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 65 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
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
77% 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 SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 72% · 2018 59% · 2019 54% · 2020 42% · 2021 32% · 2022 38% · 2023 40% — 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
42% of SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
75% of SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $3.3M that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SAN DIEGO 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SAN DIEGO 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 SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,402,577 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,337,552). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 65 organizations giving $13,402,577 in grants to SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $3,337,552 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 65 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