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Pennsylvania · Nonprofit

THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA

THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,386,321 to it, the largest being WYNCOTE FOUNDATION ($2,260,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.4M
Funders on record
31
Grants received
$4.4M
Net assets
$19M
23/31 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 46%
01What it does

What The Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia does

Mission

The rosenbach museum & library is a community that engages with and celebrates the art of the written word using our collection of rare books and manuscripts.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Operation of a museum and research library with related exhibit and educational activities and maintenance of the building which is an integral part of the collection.

    $1,420,161 spent$215,890 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,420,161.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.0M) Expenses 100 ($2.3M) Net assets 100 ($13M)2018 Revenue 80 ($1.6M) Expenses 89 ($2.0M) Net assets 99 ($13M)2019 Revenue 100 ($2.0M) Expenses 84 ($1.9M) Net assets 99 ($13M)2020 Revenue 245 ($5.0M) Expenses 81 ($1.8M) Net assets 111 ($15M)2021 Revenue 76 ($1.5M) Expenses 80 ($1.8M) Net assets 124 ($17M)2022 Revenue 123 ($2.5M) Expenses 88 ($2.0M) Net assets 114 ($15M)2023 Revenue 191 ($3.9M) Expenses 114 ($2.6M) Net assets 129 ($17M)2024 Revenue 98 ($2.0M) Expenses 129 ($2.9M) Net assets 130 ($17M)2025 Revenue 169 ($3.4M) Expenses 121 ($2.7M) Net assets 143 ($19M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (169)Expenses (121)Net assets (143)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $16M to $20M (+24%).

$14M
$14M
$14M
$16M
$17M
$16M
$20M
$19M
$20M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 2% · 2018 5% · 2019 5% · 2020 1% · 2021 16% · 2022 10% · 2023 2% · 2024 18% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

53% of THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$229k
’17
−$400k
’18
$146k
’19
$3.1M
’20
−$261k
’21
$516k
’22
$1.3M
’23
−$940k
’24
$689k
’25
1.4
months of
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.

Chief executive

Kelsey Bates

Executive director

Board chair

Benito Cachinero-Sanchez

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed242423232827302324
Joined·+0+2+1+11+1+8+4+2
No longer listed·031625111
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $260k → $645k.

4 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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 ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

27% 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 ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA.

52%
largest funder
75%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 25% · 2019 37% · 2020 54% · 2021 49% · 2022 77% · 2023 54% — 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

59% of THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

98% of THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.

NY
PA
MO
VA
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Pennsylvania out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $899k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin20% · top quartile
Months of reserve1.4mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)7% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $739k on record.

Federal$739k
grants $739kcontracts $0
21
22
23
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$490k
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$249k

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 ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA

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 Pennsylvania

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

52% of spending goes to programs.

Program 52%Management 28%Fundraising 20%

Governance

21
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

67%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

PA
NJ

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA: 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.

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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 ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA?
THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,386,321 to it, the largest being WYNCOTE FOUNDATION ($2,260,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA have?
IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $4,386,321 in grants to THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA?
WYNCOTE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,260,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE ROSENBACH OF THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia →

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 31 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