Artists Book House Nfp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843232728
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7087159346
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Printing, Publishing

Reported finances

Revenue
$120,598
Expenses
$155,824
Assets
$520,481
Liabilities
$180,242

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

People named in this filing

  • EILEEN POLLARD (TREASURER)
  • KAREN PALUZZI STEELE (SECRETARY)
  • HANNAH BATSEL (BOARD OF DIR)

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

Founded by former faculty, staff, and alumni of the columbia college chicago center for book and paper arts, the organizations purpose is to create a new home in chicagoland where artists, writers, readers, and other thoughtful people can gather to learn and create. The organization's mission is establising an educational organization devoted to fostering community through the book arts: writing, reading, printing, bookbinding, papermaking, typography, calligraphy, poetry, fiction, and more.

What it reported doing in 2025

Artists book house is a new organization devoted to the book arts: writing, reading, printing, bookbinding, papermaking, typography, calligraphy, poetry, fiction, memoir, artists books, publishing, comics, zines, and much, much more. It is a place where artists, writers, readers, and other thoughtful people gather to learn and create. Through education, exhibitions, publications, and events, artists book house expands our community. We promote the literary arts and the crafts of book making. We rejoice in the physical form of the book and embrace interdisciplinary approaches to the book arts. We are committed to conservation, understanding the history and craft of the book, and sharing knowledge. We celebrate diversity and are committed to empowering people to tell their stories, to transform their worlds into books. It will offer comprehensive instruction in the book and literary arts through classes for adults and children, artist talks, author readings, exhibitions and outreach programming. It intends to have a book shop and offer internships to train a new, diverse generation of artists, writers, and artisans. It will offer opportunities for artists and writers to publish, exhibit, and sell their work. It will have a library which will be available to the public for research. It will have a caf which will be a hub of social life of the organization.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 89%; rating input score 89
  • 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -29.2%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.34; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 34.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -10% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 89% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $139K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.