Oregon · Nonprofit
Synth Library Portland
Synth Library Portland (Oregon) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $128,866 to it, the largest being The Pride Foundation ($50,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $139k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $129k
- Net assets
- $75k
What Synth Library Portland does
Mission
Arts education
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
WORKSHOP PROGRAM: We teach workshop participants how to use synthesizers, techniques for electronic music, electronics DIY, and other topics related to electronic music and video art. Over 550 workshop participants in 2025
$14,923 spent23% of program spendingLENDING PROGRAM: We run a lending library for synthesizers, effect pedals, and other tools for electronic music. 361 lending program members in 2025
$32,560 spent50% of program spendingPERFORMANCES and EXHIBITIONS: We run an outdoor summer concert series for local electronic musicians, host film screenings on topics related to electronic music and video art, and host other musical performances. Estimated 869 attendees across our concerts, performances, and one three-day conference in 2025.
$17,285 spent27% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $64,768.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $32k to $75k (+135%).
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.
69% of Synth Library Portland’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Thomas Fang
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $18k → $10k.
7 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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 Synth Library Portland’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
Synth Library Portland leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
94% 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 Synth Library Portland.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 66% · 2019 100% · 2020 61% · 2021 100% · 2023 99% — 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
0% of Synth Library Portland's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 22% 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
94% of Synth Library Portland'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 $8k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from Oregon funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $121k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Synth Library Portland runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Synth Library Portland
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
82%
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 Synth Library Portland: 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 Synth Library Portland?
- Synth Library Portland (Oregon) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $128,866 to it, the largest being The Pride Foundation ($50,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Synth Library Portland have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $128,866 in grants to Synth Library Portland, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Synth Library Portland?
- The Pride Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Synth Library Portland find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Synth Library Portland →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 9 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