Minnesota · Nonprofit
THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY
THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY (Minnesota) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,810,043 to it, the largest being SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ($3,725,397). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.4M
- Funders on record
- 59
- Grants received
- $8.8M
- Net assets
- $24M
What The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library does
Mission
As an independent, nonprofit organization, the friends invests locally in the library through fundraising, advocacy, and programming. Our vision is a dynamic library at the heart of every community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Fundraising. The friends invests annually in our library through fundraising, advocacy, and programming. We also function as the library's foundation, managing $18.5 million in endowment assets. In 2025, the friends sent $762,000 to support saint paul public library programs and $342,000 in capital grants for building renovations. About 25% of friends funding went to support library programs for children, youth, and families such as homework centers and the summer reading program. Because of the friends, the library can spark the joy of reading for kids, support students in their academic journeys, and transform children's areas within each library.
$1,104,101 spentof which $1,104,101 as grants41% of program spendingAdvocacy. Volunteer citizen advocates help educate elected officials about library priorities, needs, and programs. In 2025, friends advocacy efforts influenced councilmembers not to cut a 0.8 fte or the collections budget, as was initially proposed in the city of saint paul's 2026 library budget. Strong community response to a city survey also contributed to an additional city investment of more than $4.3 million toward the transforming libraries capital projects. The friends invited supporters to contact their city council members to advocate for these priorities, and hundreds of people responded, contributing to these successful outcomes.
$26,790 spent1% of program spendingProgramming. As minnesota's center for the book, a library of congress designation, the friends presented 43 programs and events and welcomed thousands of participants from across the state. We accepted more than 300 submissions to the book awards from minnesota writers. Because of the friends' programming, libraries across minnesota connected their communities with local authors. Our library strategies consulting group worked with 24 clients in 12 states, assisting library systems and foundations with their own strategic planning, fundraising, and project management activities.
$1,548,134 spent$564,188 earned by the program58% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,679,025.
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.
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 $19M to $23M (+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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 16% · 2021 15% · 2022 8% · 2023 4% · 2024 4% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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 13 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $889k → $1.3M.
9 of 59 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 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 FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 56%; half comes from just 3 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 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 SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 34% · 2019 50% · 2020 48% · 2021 50% · 2022 59% · 2023 65% — 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
60% of THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
59% of THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC 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 $3.6M that is directly attributable, 84% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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.
Government funding THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $42k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$42k
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 FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 SAINT PAUL PUBLIC 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 SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY (Minnesota) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,810,043 to it, the largest being SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ($3,725,397). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% 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 SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $8,810,043 in grants to THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY, 41 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,725,397 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 59 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