Books to Prisoners

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
916172244
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2065273329
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,011,109
Expenses
$259,955
Assets
$1,967,758
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Curran Connelly (Director -President)
  • Anne Conte (Director-Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ella Foskett (Program coordinator): $6,776 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We send free books to prisoners to aid assist and foster the literacy and self education of prisoners contributing to the improvement of their conditions.

What it reported doing in 2025

The sole purpose is sending requested books to prisoners at no cost to the prisoners within the US.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 67% for direct work, and 33% for grants.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 49
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 88
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 27.7%; rating input score 28
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 53.3%; rating input score 53; 34th 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 74.3%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.57; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.6%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 27% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 31.3% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 27.7% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $260K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $7K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 42 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 filed related-organization links
  • 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 28/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.