Minnesota · Nonprofit
BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC
BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 83 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,980,077 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($738,100). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $29M
- Funders on record
- 83
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Books for Africa Inc does
Mission
Books for africa, inc.'s mission is to collect, sort, ship and distribute books to children in africa. Its goal is to end the book famine in africa.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Books for africa sent 162 shipments of approximately 2,851,027 books and digital books with an estimated value of $28,541,996 to 36 african countires. Books for africa receives funds for the shipment of books to africa, and this is the organization's only program. Additionally, books for africa allows donors to target donations to specific countries and provides feedback to donor when books have been shipped to their countries. 99% of total expenses are spent on program related expenses.
$30,663,441 spentof which $28,541,996 as grants$28,604,646 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $30,663,441.
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 2018 to 2019, from $13M to $18M (+41%).
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: 2021 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Patrick Plonski Ex Officio
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $130k → $450k.
19 of 83 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 83 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
BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
75% 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 BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 25% · 2019 21% · 2020 19% · 2021 43% · 2022 37% · 2023 41% — growing more concentrated.
“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
34% of BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
70% of BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $895k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from funders outside Minnesota, across 21 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC's revenue fell 20% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 174 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $522k on record.
- Agency for International Development$519k
- Department of State$3k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like BOOKS FOR AFRICA 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 11 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BOOKS FOR AFRICA 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 BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC?
- BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 83 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,980,077 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($738,100). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC have?
- IRS filings report 83 organizations giving $2,980,077 in grants to BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $738,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOOKS FOR AFRICA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Books for Africa →
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 83 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