Books Are Gems
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 562380561
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- El Paso, TX, USA
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Parent/Teacher Group
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $156,507
- Expenses
- $91,318
- Assets
- $178,588
- Liabilities
- $15,680
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Louie Gonzalez (President)
- Tomas Porras Acosta (Vice President)
- Emma Acosta (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Louie Gonzalez (President)
- Tomas Porras Acosta (Vice President)
- Sofia Vega (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Books Are Gems GEMS established in 2003 is a nonprofit bookstore with a 501c3 status devoted to fostering a love for reading among children and strengthening families through the power of literacy. Situated in El Paso Texas our impact extends across El Paso County Southern New Mexico and the Ft. Bliss communities. Our overarching vision centers on placing a book into the hands of every child effecting transformative change one book at a time. Our objective revolves around enhancing accessibility to books for all families thereby advancing literacy language proficiency and comprehension skills in both children and their caregivers. The context in which we operate is critical: El Pasos youth confront an illiteracy rate of around 18% and nearly a quarter of households lack access to Wi-Fi. Additionally the poverty rate for children in this region stands at 26% and the absence of public libraries in rural areas compounds the challenge.
What it reported doing in 2024
1. Free Book Distribution Program Books Are Gems provides free new and gently used books to children and educators in the El Paso region. In 2024 over 24,000 children and 820 teachers benefited from this program. Children visiting the bookstore were able to choose up to eight books of their own increasing their interest in reading and supporting literacy development at home. Educators received free classroom resources to enhance their students learning experience. The program targets underserved families in a border community with high poverty and low literacy rates.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 70
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 51.1%; rating input score 51
- Program expense ratio: 87.6%; rating input score 88
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 41.7%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.96; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 51.1% of revenue deployed · 87.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $80K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.