Detroit Bookfest Charitable Organization
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 843928102
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Detroit, MI, USA
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $58,876
- Expenses
- $62,810
- Assets
- $11,496
- Liabilities
- $313
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RYAN PLACE (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- RYAN PLACE (PRESIDENT)
- LEWIS BOUCHER (TREASURER)
- LOUIS MEIZLISH (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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Detroit bookfest charitable organization seeks to promote literacy and community engagement with literature and the arts through accessible public events including the book festival, author programs, and cultural gatherings. We bring readers, writers, booksellers, and artists together to foster a lifelong love of reading and learning. We strive to make literature and the arts welcoming and available to all, helping to build a vibrant, connected community through the power of books and music.
What it reported doing in 2025
Annual vinyl festival at eastern market in detroit
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.4%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 81%; rating input score 81
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: -6.7%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.18; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 42.5%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.4% of revenue deployed · 81% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $51K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.