Book Harvest

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
452610533
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Durham, NC, USA
Phone
2524972665
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,464,204
Expenses
$7,574,232
Assets
$13,058,412
Liabilities
$1,310,210

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • VIRGINIA YOUNG (CEO)
  • TABITHA BLACKWELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • VIRGINIA YOUNG (CEO): $214,670 total reported compensation
  • JEFFREY QUINN (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $137,899 total reported compensation
  • TABITHA BLACKWELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $129,648 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Book harvest provides books to children who need them and engages families and communities to promote children's lifelong literacy and academic success.

What it reported doing in 2025

Early literacy programs - early literacy and pre-k/k partners with families through the book babies program to nurture their children's early language and literacy skills. An evidence-informed home visiting partnership, book babies provides support to enrolled families that begins when a baby is born and is sustained over five years. Book babies builds rich relationships and provides families with the information and resources they need to develop the foundation for their children's school readiness and school success. In 2025, 376 families with babies and young children were enrolled in book babies. Enrolled families received a total of 11,841 books; a total of 802 literacy coaching home visits were made to these families by book babies literacy coaches on book harvest staff.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 54
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 73.8%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 43.7%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.72; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.6%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 30.1% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 33.7% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.2% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42% of revenue deployed · 73.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $215K · 15 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $264K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.