Connecticut · Nonprofit
FREEDOM READS INC
FREEDOM READS INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,869,024 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($12,250,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $20M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Freedom Reads Inc does
Mission
Freedom reads' mission is to bring joy, inspire hope, and help those inside confront what prison does to the spirit. We bring beautiful, handcrafted bookcases into prisons, transforming cellblocks into freedom libraries. The freedom library is a physical intervention into the landscape of plastic and steel and loneliness that characterizes prison. In an environment where the freedom to think, to contribute to a community, and even to dream about what is possible is too often curtailed, freedom reads reminds those inside that they have not been forgotten.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Freedom reads builds freedom libraries, curated 500-book collections housed in handmade wooden bookshelves opened in prison cellblocks. The freedom libraries are in proximity to where people live and are available 24/7. Freedom libraries openings are literary events, bringing writers and artists into prisons to engage directly with incarcerated readers, creating spaces for reflection, joy, and imagination.
$3,692,085 spent83% of program spendingFreedom reads marketing & communications program amplifies the organizations mission of delivering transformative literary experiences in prison. Through storytelling, targeted outreach, digital content, and media engagement, freedom reads raises public awareness about the power of literature to cultivate growth, dignity, and reflection behind bars. Our work also deepens community understanding, helping to broaden the impact and reach of freedom reads programs across correctional systems nationwide.
$533,153 spent12% of program spendingThe inside literary prize is the first-ever national literary award judged by people currently incarcerated. Each year, freedom reads convenes 300 incarcerated readers from 12-15 prisons to read, discuss, and debate four titles drawn from the most acclaimed recent works in american literature. Our team distributes copies of the books to each judge, facilitates virtual orientation and discussion sessions, and then travels to every participating prison for in-person deliberations and balloting. The prize offers a singular opportunity for incarcerated readers to shape our national literary conversationand to be recognized as essential voices within it.
$241,616 spent5% of program spendingOther.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,466,854.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $4.8M to $16M (+226%).
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: 2024 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of FREEDOM READS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 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.
Board chair
Tracey Meares
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $267k → $7.7M.
17 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 FREEDOM READS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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
FREEDOM READS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 94% · 2022 56% · 2023 65% — 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
FREEDOM READS INC draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
FREEDOM READS INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,274 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,274 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding FREEDOM READS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $450k on record.
- Department of Justice$450k
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 FREEDOM READS 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FREEDOM READS 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 FREEDOM READS INC?
- FREEDOM READS INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,869,024 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($12,250,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FREEDOM READS INC have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $19,869,024 in grants to FREEDOM READS INC, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FREEDOM READS INC?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $12,250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FREEDOM READS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Freedom Reads →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), and the filings of 67 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