Virginia · Nonprofit
The Friends of the Arlington County Library
The Friends of the Arlington County Library (Virginia) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,840 to it, the largest being BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $755k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $36k
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What The Friends of the Arlington County Library does
Mission
The purpose of the friends is to encourage and assist the Arlington County Public Library in providing the highest quality possible library services and collections to the patrons of the library and to generally promote and encourage public library systems.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Direct support provided to the Treasurer of Arlington County to purchase books, reference material, audiovisual materials and library staffing serving the Arlington, Virginia community
$346,135 spentof which $346,135 as grants84% of program spendingTo support library programs in Arlington County, Virginia serving over 150,000 people.
$63,608 spent16% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $409,743.
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 $2.8M to $2.3M (−19%).
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.
73% of The Friends of the Arlington County Library’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $10k → $6k.
4 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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 The Friends of the Arlington County Library’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
The Friends of the Arlington County Library leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
72% 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 Friends of the Arlington County Library.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 95% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 85% · 2021 65% · 2022 75% · 2023 89% — 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.
Where its funders are
72% of The Friends of the Arlington County Library'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 $10k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Virginia, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $26k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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 Friends of the Arlington County Library runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like The Friends of the Arlington County 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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Friends of the Arlington County 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 Friends of the Arlington County Library?
- The Friends of the Arlington County Library (Virginia) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,840 to it, the largest being BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does The Friends of the Arlington County Library have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $35,840 in grants to The Friends of the Arlington County Library, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Friends of the Arlington County Library?
- BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $10,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Friends of the Arlington County Library find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 7 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