Missouri · Nonprofit
THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY
THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY (Missouri) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,773,244 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($614,644). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $9.6M
What The Library Foundation for the Benefit of St Louis Public Library does
Mission
The foundation engages in activities that support and benefit the st. Louis public library through soliciting, receiving, and holding gifts for the benefit of the library.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
See schedule o.the st. Louis public library foundation (slplf) engages in activities that focus public attention on the st. Louis public library's programs and services and the need for private, philanthropic support of the organization. The slplf staff are community advocates, developing partnerships to further the library's mission and build community support for library programs and services. These activities include managing an annual fund. As of september 30, 2025, the slpl foundation's annual fund had gifts from 1,987 businesses, foundations, and individual donors. In addition to managing the annual fund, the library foundation managed invested funds used to support slpl programs, projects, and collections. In fy2025, slpl foundation held stewardship events for friends of the library. The slpl foundation promoted the st. Louis public library through a monthly e-newsletter to 3,900, social media posts, and online, print and radio advertising. In addition to the above accomplishments, the slpl foundation solicited gifts for the library through direct mail and helped identify and secure community partnerships to promote library programming.
$848,475 spentof which $848,475 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $848,475.
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 $10M to $7.9M (−21%).
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.
72% of THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Pedro Soares
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 18 funders, grant income fell $212k → $204k.
8 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
71% 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 46% · 2019 36% · 2020 28% · 2021 26% · 2022 28% · 2023 34% — 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.
How long its funders stay
41% of THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
67% of THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS 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 $593k that is directly attributable, 68% of it comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY's revenue grew 65% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS 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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY (Missouri) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,773,244 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($614,644). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $1,773,244 in grants to THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY?
- ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $614,644 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 47 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