Connecticut · Nonprofit
THE FERGUSON LIBRARY
THE FERGUSON LIBRARY (Connecticut) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,112,946 to it, the largest being FRIENDS OF THE FERGUSON LIBRARY INC ($889,078). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $11M
What The Ferguson Library does
Mission
The library's mission is to make available books, films, recordings, and other materials to the public, and provide various programs and services to the community
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
We serve our users equitably by providing access to resources for personal growth and lifelong learning. Our collection of services reflect our diverse community, and we encourage the sharing of diverse point of views to broaden our minds and strengthen relationships. We form partnerships to support the work of other organizations whose goal is to help people lead their best lives.
$8,123,130 spent$11,558,274 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,123,130.
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 2024 to 2025, from $21M to $20M (−6%).
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 89% · 2018 75% · 2019 75% · 2020 88% · 2021 90% · 2022 84% · 2023 88% · 2024 92% · 2025 94%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of THE FERGUSON LIBRARY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Board chair
Rj Mercede
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 19 funders, grant income fell $241k → $215k.
4 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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: $1.2M from one payer (the payer's own filing calls it a related party, largest Ferguson Library Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE FERGUSON LIBRARY raised.
From the IRS filings of THE FERGUSON LIBRARY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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
THE FERGUSON LIBRARY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
61% 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 THE FERGUSON LIBRARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 27% · 2019 24% · 2020 48% · 2021 41% · 2022 49% · 2023 46% — broadly stable.
“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
55% of THE FERGUSON 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
78% of THE FERGUSON LIBRARY's grant income comes from Connecticut funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $315k 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
THE FERGUSON LIBRARY's revenue grew 20% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE FERGUSON LIBRARY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $100k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$100k
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 THE FERGUSON 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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
- Ferguson Library Foundation · exempt
- Friends of the Ferguson Library Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE FERGUSON 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 THE FERGUSON LIBRARY?
- THE FERGUSON LIBRARY (Connecticut) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,112,946 to it, the largest being FRIENDS OF THE FERGUSON LIBRARY INC ($889,078). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE FERGUSON LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $2,112,946 in grants to THE FERGUSON LIBRARY, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FERGUSON LIBRARY?
- FRIENDS OF THE FERGUSON LIBRARY INC is the largest funder on record, with $889,078 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FERGUSON LIBRARY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Ferguson Library →
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 46 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