Frothingham Free Library

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
141364532
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Fonda, NY, USA
Phone
5188533016
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$370,942
Expenses
$146,471
Assets
$677,710
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Carol Stuff (Co-President Board of Trustees)
  • Wendy Sullivan (Co-President Board of Trustees)

Highest reported compensation

  • Linda Bell (Assistant-Interim Director): $27,938 total reported compensation
  • Bonnie Myers (Clerk): $19,682 total reported compensation
  • Mackenzie Egelston (Clerk-Digital Services): $4,482 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

At Frothingham Free Library we aim to provide equitable access to information, resources and opportunities that support growth, well-being and lifelong learning. We believe that everyone deserves the chance to thrive, and we are committed to providing the tools and support necessary to make that possible.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our Services are open to all in need. We have all Standard forms of material such as e-books, books,, Wi-Fi access and various access to media entertainment. We are a participant in our regional cooperative systems, granting people access to more media Resources than those contained in our Library. We offer an eclectic diverse variety of programming. These include but are not limited to Story hour, Book Discussions, Live entertainment and outreach to local public and nursery schools. We Offer a variety of workshops keeping the mission of a non-profit, all free of charge. In 2025 we had1288 registered borrowers who contributed to the 14,852 media materials distributed through our library. We held over 248 events with 5,440 participants. Through participation with inter library loans we received over 3500 items from other libraries for our patrons, and loaned over 2800 items to other libraries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 42
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 33.3%; rating input score 33
  • Program expense ratio: 71.1%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 60.5%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.63; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 44.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 31.9% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 33.3% of revenue deployed · 71.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $104K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $28K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.