Four Way Books Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201125607
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2123345430
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Printing, Publishing

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$521,123
Expenses
$448,900
Assets
$179,775
Liabilities
$3,741

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Howard Levy (President and Director)
  • Owen Lewis (Vice-President and Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Martha Rhodes (Publisher and Executive Editor): $73,958 total reported compensation
  • Jeffery Morehouse (Treasurer): $15,791 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Four way books is dedicated to producing and promoting excellent literary publications and to creating opportunities for writers of merit. We believe that the work of writers brings good to the world-understanding, empathy, curiosity, wisdom-and we strive to connect writers and readers, to make each writer's life more meaningful by bringing validation to the artist and important, pioneering, virtuosic work to wide public attention, as well as to the communities each book most seeks and serves.

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization continues to focus on its traditional methods to comply with its mission. The website contains details of all its functions including auctions, submissions, readings and signings.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64.2%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 65.4%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 13.9%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 64.2% of revenue deployed · 65.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $293K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $74K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.