Alabama · Nonprofit
BETTER BASICS INC
BETTER BASICS INC (Alabama) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,278,878 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC ($1,331,998). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $3.2M
What Better Basics Inc does
Mission
Better basics works to eradicate illiteracy among children in central alabama. We deliver reading and math instruction and resources to empower the educationally vulnerable.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
After-school programs: 21st century community learning centers21st century community learning centers serve pre-k-12th-grade students in fairfield city, tarrant city, and dallas county schools with afterschool and summer academic and enrichment programming. Last year, more than 420 students participated in our 21st cclc programs. They benefitted from small-group tutoring, enrichment, acap/act prep, physical fitness, homework help, and stem - all designed to promote learning and curiosity in a safe, supportive environment.
$1,368,368 spent55% of program spendingIntervention programs: reading intervention, math interventionbetter basics reading intervention program provides small-group, data-driven instruction led by certified teachers, helping students strengthen literacy skills and make measurable progress in just 20 weeks. Last years cohort of students grew an average 1 year and 5 month in reading skills.delivered on-site during the school day and aligned with the alabama state department of education academic standards, reading intervention builds foundational skills in phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension through engaging, research-based lessons. Students meet in groups of three to four, receiving individualized instruction three times per week from october through march. Progress is carefully measured using the sort assessment.better basics mathematics intervention program provides small-group instruction in core math concepts fully aligned with the alabama state department of education academic standards. Led by certified teachers on-site during the school day, students meet three times per week for 20 weeks. Last years cohort of students increased mastery of critical math skills by 60%.
$536,886 spent$396,167 earned by the program21% of program spendingOur book distribution programs conveyed over 190,000 quality books to children, mostly in underserved neighborhoods.dolly parton's imagination library distributes free, high-interest, age-appropriate books each month. Last year, more than 15,000 children aged birth through five received books. Better basics manages and funds dpil for jefferson and walker counties, al.better basics reads mobilized hundreds of volunteers in single-day events to read to 13,500 students. Sites included all elementary classrooms in birmingham city, fairfield city, bessemer city, and independent school systems. Each child received a copy of the book read.
$592,935 spent24% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,498,189.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $2.4M to $2.9M (+21%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 35% · 2018 27% · 2019 28% · 2020 29% · 2021 40% · 2022 42% · 2023 46% · 2024 47% · 2025 58%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of BETTER BASICS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Catherine Goudreau
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $335k → $498k.
12 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BETTER BASICS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BETTER BASICS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
56% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BETTER BASICS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 38% · 2019 49% · 2020 26% · 2021 25% · 2022 28% · 2023 32% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
45% of BETTER BASICS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
85% of BETTER BASICS INC's grant income comes from Alabama funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $766k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BETTER BASICS INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 852 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 852 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BETTER BASICS INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Alabama
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BETTER BASICS INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BETTER BASICS INC?
- BETTER BASICS INC (Alabama) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,278,878 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC ($1,331,998). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BETTER BASICS INC have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $4,278,878 in grants to BETTER BASICS INC, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BETTER BASICS INC?
- UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,331,998 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BETTER BASICS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Alabama. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Better Basics →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 54 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing