The Great Books Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 362182034
IRS 990 coverage: 2011–2024
Forms available: Form 990 2024
Location: Streamwood, IL, USA
Phone: 3123325870
Rating: 72
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $2,261,130
Expenses: $2,369,928
Assets: $1,783,938
Liabilities: $519,368

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

PETER WALTON (VICE-PRESIDENT & CFO)
VALENTINA TEXERA PARISSI (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

VALENTINA TEXERA PARISSI (PRESIDENT & CEO): $150,943 total reported compensation
MATTHEW LEMEN (DIRECTOR OF K-12 PARTNERSH): $138,066 total reported compensation
Michelle Barreras (National Sales Representative): $134,766 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of the great books foundation is to advance the critical, reflective thinking, and social and civic engagement of readers of all ages through shared inquiry discussion of works and ideas of enduring value.

What it reported doing in 2024

K-12 Programs: Since 1967, the Junior Great Books program has supported the Great Books Foundation's mission by creating generations of lifelong learners. The rigorous, inquiry-based language arts program exposes students to beautiful writing and ideas of enduring value, through carefully curated selections of stories, poems, plays, and nonfiction texts. Students from kindergarten through high school engage in Shared Inquiry discussion, building invaluable skills in reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing, speaking and listening, and civil discourse and igniting a love of reading. Every year, our K-12 programs support thousands of classrooms with exceptional student anthologies and classroom materials that walk teachers through each step of the Shared Inquiry method of learning. These materials prepare students to meet English language arts learning standards through authentic engagement with sustained reading and thoughtful exploration of texts. In 2025, Great Books released Junior Great Books Inspire, the first new edition of Junior Great Books for grades 2-5 since 2015. With a fully redeveloped table of contents, reader's journal, and teacher's edition, this new series maintains the Shared Inquiry sequence of activities beloved in past Junior Great Books programs while providing the most up-to-date research and standards for reading comprehension development and a range of classic and contemporary texts. Development also began on an updated informational nonfiction program for grades 2-5 to complement the Inspire program, expected in 2026. K-12 Digital Programs: To remain relevant and successful in the 21st century, Great Books now offers all K-12 content through a digital platform. These digital publications include features to improve access to content through a variety of schooling types and situations. The Foundation's digital offerings are regularly updated to keep pace with changes in available platforms. Most recently, in July 2024, Great Books launched JGB Digital Classroom 3 with a new platform provider and enhanced features. In 2025, Junior Great Books Inspire was added to the digital catalog along with extended features for existing series. 2026 will see the addition of the newest nonfiction program and enhancements to support accessibility. These digital experiences update and enhance the Great Books learning model and allow the Foundation to reach a wider, more diverse audience.

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.

Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 72
Transparency & Controls: 74
Accountability: 100
Sustainability: 22
Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
Program expense ratio: 45.9%; rating input score 46
Fundraising efficiency: $3.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: Limited
Grant itemization coverage: Limited
Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: -4.8%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.75; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 32%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: -14.4% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: -7.6% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: -9.6% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 45.9% of spending went to programs
Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 18 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
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: Program expense ratio scored 46/100.
High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.