Books in Hand
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 394562856
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- El Sobrante, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5105928090
- Rating
- 47
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $18,983
- Expenses
- $4,744
- Assets
- $18,626
- Liabilities
- $4,739
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Donna Holsten (Executive director)
People named in this filing
- Donna Holsten (Executive director)
- Melody Chen (Board member)
- Stephanie Dimock (Board member)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote literacy by distributing free books to other literacy focused nonprofits and individuals; and by donating generated funds (and gift certificates) to schools and other literacy focused nonprofits
What it reported doing in 2025
Donation of free books to other literacy based nonprofits: Specifically to Prisoner's Literature Project, Friends of El Sobrante Library, and Friends of Hercules Library. Total of 490 books, calculated at thrift store price to be $1543 value
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 6
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 77
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 2.7%; rating input score 3
- Program expense ratio: 10.8%; rating input score 11
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 75%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.93; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 2.7% of revenue deployed · 10.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $513 in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 9 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 3/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part III transfer expenses within program total did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.