Minnesota · Nonprofit
FREE BOOK BUGGIE
FREE BOOK BUGGIE (Minnesota) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,936 to it, the largest being BURNSVILLE ROTARY FOUNDATION ($15,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $163k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $55k
- Net assets
- $96k
What Free Book Buggie does
Mission
Our mission is to provide books to children sparking a love for reading that empowers them to explore a world of opportunities. Throughout the year we collected sorted and distributed thousands of new and gently used books via schools community events and partner organizations. Our team collaborated to organize book drives and literacy programs promoting family reading and ensuring equal access to educational materials. These initiatives align with our goal of promoting literacy and education in the community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Free Book Distribution-Primary Program The Free Book Buggies provides free books to children and families to promote literacy and a lifelong love of reading. During the year the organization collected sorted and distributed thousands of new and gently used books through community events schools and partner organizations across Minnesota. Approximately 5,000 children and 2,000 families benefited from access to age-appropriate books that encourage at-home reading and support equitable educational opportunities.
$89,300 spent93% of program spendingEvent Outreach - The Free Book Buggie participates in local community events and literacy fairs using its signature book buggies to reach children and families in high-traffic areas. Event participation fees help offset the cost of transportation and materials. Through these events approximately 3,000 children and families received free books and reading materials while volunteers and staff provided information on literacy resources and family reading habits.
$5,564 spent6% of program spendingBook Delivery to Partner Sites - The Free Book Buggie delivers bulk book donations to schools libraries shelters and community centers to extend its reach throughout Minnesota. Delivery fees cover transportation and coordination costs. In the past year we delivered over 10,000 books to more than 40 partner sites benefiting an estimated 4,000 children and families with consistent access to free reading materials.
$1,002 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $95,866.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $255k to $13k (−95%).
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.
94% of FREE BOOK BUGGIE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Debbie Beck
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $10k → $18k.
1 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 FREE BOOK BUGGIE’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
FREE BOOK BUGGIE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 27% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
30% 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 FREE BOOK BUGGIE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 60% · 2022 49% · 2023 46% — 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.
Where its funders are
89% of FREE BOOK BUGGIE's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $84 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
FREE BOOK BUGGIE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 13,917 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,917 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FREE BOOK BUGGIE
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.
Public support
85%
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 FREE BOOK BUGGIE: 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 FREE BOOK BUGGIE?
- FREE BOOK BUGGIE (Minnesota) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,936 to it, the largest being BURNSVILLE ROTARY FOUNDATION ($15,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FREE BOOK BUGGIE have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $54,936 in grants to FREE BOOK BUGGIE, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FREE BOOK BUGGIE?
- BURNSVILLE ROTARY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $15,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FREE BOOK BUGGIE 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 Free Book Buggie →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 13 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