New York · Nonprofit
The Tool Library Inc
The Tool Library Inc (New York) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $531,037 to it, the largest being THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF BUFFALO INC ($175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $762k
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $531k
- Net assets
- $851k
What The Tool Library Inc does
Mission
The Tool Library, Inc. promotes borrowing over buying by increasing trust between neighbors and neighborhoods through empowerment by removing economic barriers for individuals and community projects, enhances sustainability by encouraging community involvement to share practical resources and knowledge, reduces waste, and lowers barriers to access.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
1,969 active members borrowed 5,247 tools in 27,162 transactions for 2024. These borrowed tools provided $1,161,107 in savings to our community and contributed to our charitable purpose of combating neighborhood blight by providing tools, equipment and resources to the community.
$200,625 spent$25,879 earned by the program78% of program spendingService Days - 18 events in 2024 brought together 465 volunteers and a total of 1,590 volunteer hours. As a whole 2,330 bulbs and 26 trees were planted. These community beautification efforts contribute to our efforts of combating neighborhood blight.
$40,096 spent$1,652 earned by the program15% of program spendingDare to Repair - 13 events in 2024 had 620 participants who were aided by 64 volunteers to work on 529 items which otherwise would have become waste. There were 383 successful fixes and 3,306lbs of waste was diverted from landfills. Hosting repair events supports sustainability efforts.
$17,978 spent$6,520 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $258,699.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $407k to $950k (+134%).
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: 2023 16% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of The Tool Library Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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.
Chief executive
Darren Cotton
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $2k → $53k.
4 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 Tool Library Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 21 of 22 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 Tool Library Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
50% 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 Tool Library Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 97% · 2021 44% · 2022 71% · 2023 48% — 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
33% of The Tool Library Inc's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 41% 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
87% of The Tool Library Inc's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 Tool Library Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,971 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,971 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like The Tool 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 New York
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
97%
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 Tool 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 Tool Library Inc?
- The Tool Library Inc (New York) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $531,037 to it, the largest being THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF BUFFALO INC ($175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Tool Library Inc have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $531,037 in grants to The Tool Library Inc, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Tool Library Inc?
- THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF BUFFALO INC is the largest funder on record, with $175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Tool Library Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Tool Library →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 22 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