Brooklyn Public Library: $163.2M Revenue, $128.2M Program Expenses

On the LakeQuality nonprofit efficiency rubric, Brooklyn Public Library pulls an A — the highest available grade. The 81/100 composite reflects a combination of program-focused spending, controlled overhead, and the kind of multi-year financial discipline that grant-makers look for.

Brooklyn Public Library is a large nonprofit by U.S. standards: $163.2M in 2023 revenue against $164.3M in expenses. Organizations in this revenue bracket usually run multiple programs with permanent staff and a meaningful endowment or reserve. Program-spending efficiency is strong: 80% of total expenses flow to program activities, above the 75% benchmark most third-party charity raters use.

Five-year revenue is essentially flat — Brooklyn Public Library's funding base appears stable but not growing. For mature organizations this is often the steady state; for younger ones it can signal a funding plateau worth diagnosing. CEO compensation is reported as zero in the filing — typical for nonprofits where the chief executive is paid through a related entity (parent system, university, or foundation) rather than the filing organization itself, or for small organizations whose chief is a volunteer or board member. In the Education category, Brooklyn Public Library sits alongside universities, K-12 systems, scholarship funds, and education-research organizations. Education-sector nonprofits often hold large endowments, which affects how the reserves-and-revenue ratios should be read.