Literary Freedom Project Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 320011578
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Bronx, NY, USA
- Phone
- 3474542161
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $151,187
- Expenses
- $133,583
- Assets
- $77,259
- Liabilities
- $25,370
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Ronald Kavanaugh (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Ronald Kavanaugh (Executive Director)
- Haydil Henriquez (Board Chair)
- Bill Aguado (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
The Literary Freedom Project creates free, open spaces for communities to engage with books through weekly discussions and presentations. Our programs promote literacy, celebrate the diverse cultures of the Bronx and NYC, and foster community connections through the literary arts and shared histories. Since 1998, LFP has focused on books, culture, and education in its initiatives. Mosaic, a literary print and online magazine, showcases writers of African descent and provides lesson plans for educators. The Mosaic Literary Conference, established in 2002, promotes literature-based creative thinking and knowledge sharing. One Book One Bronx, created in 2017, facilitates weekly discussions on gentrification, social justice, women's empowerment, racial inequality, and more.
What it reported doing in 2025
Mosaic Magazine is more than a publication; it's a platform for transformation. Dedicated to elevating the voices of the African diaspora, Mosaic brings literature, culture, and education into vibrant conversation, creating resources that spark curiosity and deepen understanding in classrooms and communities. At the heart of Mosaic's mission is a commitment to educators, parents, and community organizations. Through dynamic professional development workshops and thoughtfully designed lesson plans, Mosaic provides tools to use reading, writing, and storytelling as gateways to engagement. These resources aren't just instructional; they're invitations to explore identity, history, justice, and imagination. Each issue of Mosaic, available in both print and digital formats, is paired with a comprehensive lesson plan crafted for high school educators. These plans reframe the magazine's core themes through culturally responsive instruction, offering a roadmap for integrating literature and social engagement in meaningful, accessible ways. Past lessons have centered figures and movements like Kalief Browder, Audre Lorde, Jesmyn Ward's The Fire This Time, and Black Lives Matter, allowing students the opportunity to see literature as both a mirror and a lens. The Mosaic Literary Conference serves as a natural extension of the magazine's work, bringing its themes off the page and into real-time dialogue. Hosted annually, the conference offers in-person panels and workshops designed to deepen the educational impact of each issue. Educators and community members come together to explore how Mosaic's content can be brought to life in classrooms, homes, and cultural spaces-creating a direct bridge between literary arts and everyday instruction. While in-person educator workshops have been on pause since the pandemic, Mosaic remains committed to reactivating these spaces. When active, they serve as powerful complements to the magazine and its lesson plans, giving educators the tools and confidence to infuse literary arts and social engagement into their practice. Mosaic operates as part of the Literary Freedom Project (LFP), working alongside initiatives like One Book One Bronx, which hosts weekly public conversations on issues such as gentrification, racial inequality, criminal justice, and women's empowerment. Together, these programs position books and culture as essential tools for dialogue, healing, and change. In every issue, lesson, and gathering, Mosaic affirms the power of literature to connect people, illuminate histories, and spark transformation. It is a living, breathing testament to the belief that stories can shape not only how we learn, but how we live.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% 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 program spending has grown recently. 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: 50
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 47.7%; rating input score 48
- Program expense ratio: 54%; rating input score 54
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: 11.6%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 29.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 47.7% of revenue deployed · 54% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $72K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2011 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 48/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 54/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.