Bookmarks Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
542152610
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Winstonsalem, NC, USA
Phone
3367471471
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,307,390
Expenses
$1,136,806
Assets
$2,699,166
Liabilities
$1,081,681

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEPHANIE FLORESS DE VALGAZ (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JAMIE ROGERS-SOUTHERN (EXECUTIVE DI): $1 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Bookmark, inc. (bookmarks) is a literary arts organization that fosters a love of reading and writing in the forsyth county community. Bookmarks connects readers with authors and books in the following ways: an annual festival of books, an authors in schools program, and year-round events in their nonprofit independent bookstore.

What it reported doing in 2024

Organizing and presenting a street-type book festival including readings by authors, workshops, books signings, and programs for children, all free to the public. Organizing author visits to schools in North Carolina, primarily in the triad area and surrounding counties. Work with teachers to incorporate authors and their books into the curriculum. These visits are at no cost to schools. Organize author events featuring bestselling and award-winning authors to further connect readers with authors through events and book sales. Some free, some ticketed fundraising events. In addition, the organization operates an independent bookstore to further promote reading and serves as a gathering place for readers to connect with other readers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 61% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.6%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 92.4%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.37; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.4; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.6% of revenue deployed · 92.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1 · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.