Book Trust

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
204124164
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
7204589889
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,415,550
Expenses
$5,267,522
Assets
$1,878,064
Liabilities
$166,139

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATIENCE PEABODY (PRES/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • PATIENCE PEABODY (PRES/CEO): $229,361 total reported compensation
  • RACHELLE FERRELLI (VP OF COMMUN): $157,002 total reported compensation
  • ALLISON LEE (VP OF PROGRA): $147,912 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The organization's mission is to provide all children equitable access to books of choice in order to promote reading motivation and engagement. Book trust's vision is that every child discovers the joy and power of reading to cultivate a lifelong love of learning. Since the organization's founding in 2001, book trust has grown from serving 170 students in Colorado to serving 47,376 elementary students across 11 states during the 2024-2025 academic year. This school year, book trust partnered with 159 book trust managers and 2,181 teachers in 159 schools, to engage students in book choice, ownership, and celebration of over 597,000 new scholastic books.

What it reported doing in 2024

Teacher training and resources - direct cost to develop and provide teacher training, support, and literacy resources to book trust managers and teachers throughout the year. Book trust managers and teachers volunteer their time to implement book trust's program throughout the school year. In 2024-2025, 159 book trust managers and 2,022 teachers across 11 states received book trust's program training, on-going program support, and monthly literacy resources to engage students in book choice, ownership, and celebration. Book trust managers and teachers receive literacy tools for early reading tactics, family engagement, and the benefits of playing an active role in daily reading in the classroom and at home. Evaluation - direct cost to provide monthly program monitoring and evaluation to ensure effective and quality program implementation and impact. Book trust's qualitative and quantitative evaluation process throughout the year includes; but is not limited to, school site visits, program monitoring tools, annual surveys, focus groups, academic research, and third-party evaluations. Operations - direct cost to provide the essential program administrative and operational support necessary to implement the book trust program and to support our partner schools, teachers, and students with high quality and consistency.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 2.7%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.5%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.3% of revenue deployed · 79.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $4.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $229K · 14 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $148K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.