American Booksellers Association
Legal name: American Booksellers Association Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 135676641
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Harrison, NY, USA
- Phone
- 800-637-0037
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Printing, Publishing
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,961,120
- Expenses
- $6,279,808
- Assets
- $39,495,288
- Liabilities
- $2,793,880
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CYNTHIA COMPTON (CO-VP/SEC.(THRU MAY 2025);PRESIDENT)
- JENNY COHEN (CO-VICE PRESIDENT (THRU MAY 2025))
- ALLISON HILL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- ALLISON HILL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $447,554 total reported compensation
- JOY DALLANEGRA-SANGER (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $293,368 total reported compensation
- PK SINDWANI (CFO (THRU AUG 2025)): $231,886 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
American Booksellers Association is a national trade association that supports and advocates for the success of independent bookstores.
What it reported doing in 2024
Products and services: aba offers members an e-commerce platform for a monthly fee and the tools necessary for them to create fully transactional e-commerce websites. All aba members' bookstores can offer their customers a range of reading devices and/or digital titles and audiobook titles. Aba compiles and distributes to members a monthly list of independent bookseller recommendations, to be distributed by member stores in hard copy and electronically and used as a sales tool. Twice a year aba facilitates major promotions for member stores, bringing together authors, readers, and publishers at events across the country to support independent booksellers. Aba coordinates special purchasing programs for member stores and offers discounted or reduced prices on shipping, paper items, credit card processing, and other affinity partner products. Aba also offers members a comprehensive database of publishers' business terms that is regularly updated.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 72% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.3%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.29; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.8%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $448K · 22 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
- Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.