Massachusetts · Nonprofit
TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON
TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,030,354 to it, the largest being ASSOCIATES OF BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY INC ($7,515,494). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $19M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $8.0M
- Net assets
- $98M
What Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston does
Mission
The Boston Public Library provides educational and cultural enrichment free to all by engaging the public through programming and active spaces, restoring and preserving our history, providing access to borrow from our vast collection of books and other material and caring for the Public's Special Collections.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Boston Public Library (BPL) is an extraordinary institution that has served the citizens of Boston since 1848. Founded as the first municipal library and the first public library to lend books, the Boston Public Library is dedicated to the advancement of learning and is "Free to All" as is carved in the facade of the historic McKim building in Copley Square. The BPL encompasses a Central Library, twenty-five vibrant neighborhood libraries, a robust website, and classes and programs for all ages. The Library's collection of more than 23 million items includes circulating books, eBooks, DVDs, and music, as well as research and special collections that encompass rare manuscripts, prints, photographs, drawings, maps, posters, and more. The Boston Public Library's Kirstein Business Library and Innovation Center, Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, and Collections of Distinction such as the personal library of John Adams, the Anti-Slavery collection, the Thomas Pennant Barton Collection of Shakespeare, and the Boston Pictorial Archive attract researchers and scholars from across the city and around the world. In fiscal year 2025, Boston Public Library hosted 14,576 public programs…
$14,480,510 spent$131,566 earned by the program100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,480,510.
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 2020 to 2021, from $80M to $100M (+25%).
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: 2017 18% · 2018 23% · 2019 28% · 2020 33% · 2021 25% · 2022 29% · 2023 31% · 2024 31% · 2025 32%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Doctor Raymond Liu
Chair(effective May 2024), (prior Trustee September 2023 to April 2024)
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $418k → $1.2M.
4 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $9.4M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Boston Public Library Fund Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON raised.
From the IRS filings of TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON’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 PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% 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 PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 99% · 2019 77% · 2020 94% · 2021 95% · 2022 90% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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 PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $237k 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
TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Boston Public Library Fund Inc · exempt
- Associates of the Boston Public Library Inc · exempt
- The City of Boston · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON: 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 TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON?
- TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,030,354 to it, the largest being ASSOCIATES OF BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY INC ($7,515,494). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $8,030,354 in grants to TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON?
- ASSOCIATES OF BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY INC is the largest funder on record, with $7,515,494 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF BOSTON 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.
Play a game about who funds Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston →
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 7 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