Maine · Nonprofit
Better World Libraries
Better World Libraries (Maine) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,455,421 to it, the largest being Open Library of Richmond Inc ($17,135,421). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.9M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $19M
- Net assets
- $25M
What Better World Libraries does
Mission
The specific and primary purpose of this corporation is to engage in charitable and educational activities within the means of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the corresponding provisions of any future United States Internal revenue law.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
A number of agreements were renegotiated in February of 2020 to finish Better World Librarys acquisition intent of Better World Books and to help with facilities and build out their website.Better World Libraries continues to enable Better World Books to preserve their cultural heritage by continuing to provide an outlet for public libraries across the United States to sell their decommissioned books, offering these books to consumers at discounted prices through a secondary market and also donating millions of books to non-profits partners promoting literacy all around the world.
$5,896 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,896.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2022 to 2023, from $2.3M to $17M (+652%).
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.
1% of Better World Libraries’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $1.3M → $17M.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 World Libraries’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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 World Libraries leans on a few funders — its largest provides 88% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 World Libraries.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 97% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
93% of Better World Libraries's grant income comes from Maine funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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 World Libraries holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Better World Libraries
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 Maine
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
25% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Better World Libraries: 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 World Libraries?
- Better World Libraries (Maine) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,455,421 to it, the largest being Open Library of Richmond Inc ($17,135,421). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Better World Libraries have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $19,455,421 in grants to Better World Libraries, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Better World Libraries?
- Open Library of Richmond Inc is the largest funder on record, with $17,135,421 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Better World Libraries find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. 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 World Libraries →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 3 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing