Tacoma Public Library Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911739198
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Tacoma, WA, USA
Phone
2532268880
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Libraries

Reported finances

Revenue
$333,077
Expenses
$67,417
Assets
$357,434
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Wayne Williams (President)
  • Bill Bryberg (Vice President)
  • JR Nobles (Executive Director)
  • Jennifer Wolbrecht (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Wayne Williams (President)
  • Bill Bryberg (Vice President)
  • Archi Sharma (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Strengthening Tacomas thriving communities by fueling our public library system through philanthropy and outreach.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025 the Tacoma Public Library Foundation expanded its reach and fundraising efforts to bring in more varied types of contributions sponsored the childrens learning area of the Downtown Main Tacoma Library renovation engaged contracted services and established workplan initiatives to analyze past fundraising as well as the development of strategies to grow the foundation in future years.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 64% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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: 49
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 86
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 18%; rating input score 18
  • Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $189.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 79.8%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.3; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 18% of revenue deployed · 87.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $59K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 18/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.