Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC
THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $65,170 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($36,625). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $80k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $65k
- Net assets
- $125k
What The Friends of the Melrose Public Library Inc does
Mission
To help the library provide programs, services, and materials not covered by the library's normal operating budget.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
To help the library provide programs, services and materials not covered by the library's normal operating budget.
$307,986 spentof which $300,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $307,986.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 $353k to $125k (−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.
80% of THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (65% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $1k → $41k.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC’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 MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% 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
57% 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 MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 58% · 2022 79% · 2023 61% — 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
57% of THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC'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 $28k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $37k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC's revenue fell 66% between 2023 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,277 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
92%
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 THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC: 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 MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC?
- THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $65,170 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($36,625). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% 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 MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $65,170 in grants to THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $36,625 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FRIENDS OF THE MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Friends of the Melrose Public Library →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), 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