Massachusetts · Nonprofit
TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY
TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $316,492 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ($308,944). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
Against its field
TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,072 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,072 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Regionshared funderslocal
- The Association for Rural and Small Librariesportfolio match
- Finger Lakes Library Systemportfolio match
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.
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: 2019 83% · 2020 85% · 2021 86% · 2022 69% · 2023 83% · 2024 66% · 2025 76%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES 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. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $5 → $8k.
3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY’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
TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 98% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 98% · 2023 94% — 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
100% of TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES 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 $2k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 1 state.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $315k 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 4 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Regionshared funderslocalMA · backs 32 organizations that share your funders · funds 29 organizations near you
- The Association for Rural and Small Librariesportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Finger Lakes Library Systemportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Owwl Library Systemportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- North Country Library Systemportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library Systemportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- 2006 Edward S Rosenblum Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pennsylvania Humanities Councilportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Renee B Fisher Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities & Public Policy Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Tocker Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- New Hampshire Humanities Councilportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $55k on record.
- MA$53k
- VT$3k
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 TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY?
- TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $316,492 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ($308,944). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $316,492 in grants to TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS is the largest funder on record, with $308,944 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRUSTEES OF THE FORBES LIBRARY 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.
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 4funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing