The Book Cycle Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 352481031
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $65,007
- Expenses
- $46,533
- Assets
- $56,622
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sara Houstoun Loperena (Founder CEO)
- Guy Perryn Leech (Board Chair CEO)
People named in this filing
- Sara Houstoun Loperena (Founder CEO)
- Guy Perryn Leech (Board Chair CEO)
- James Patrick Houstoun IV (Board Secretary - Treasurer)
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
Providing a no-barriers resource of free books for all in the Houston Texas area.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Book Cycle provides a no-strings-attached resource of free books regardless of socioeconomic status in a safe welcoming third space for the community. Between individuals taking books those dropping off donations and those who take books to clinics social work offices or the like we served up to 20,000 people.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.6%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 28.4%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- 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: 71.6% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $47K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.