Maryland · Nonprofit
National Book Critics Circle
National Book Critics Circle (Maryland) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,250 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($21,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2026
- $73k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $21k
- Net assets
- $110k
What National Book Critics Circle does
Mission
To honor outstanding writing and foster a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Member and community programs including mentorship activities, discussion panels and funded awards
$3,650 spent9% of program spendingAnnual public award ceremony in recognition of best books, authors and literary institutions
$38,653 spent91% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $42,303.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $128k to $114k (−11%).
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.
100% of National Book Critics Circle’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 99% 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 National Book Critics Circle’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
National Book Critics Circle leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% 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 National Book Critics Circle.
“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
99% of National Book Critics Circle'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 $250 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Maryland, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21k 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
National Book Critics Circle's revenue fell 31% between 2024 and 2026.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 435 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2026
Organizations like National Book Critics Circle
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 National Book Critics Circle: 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 National Book Critics Circle?
- National Book Critics Circle (Maryland) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,250 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($21,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does National Book Critics Circle have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $21,250 in grants to National Book Critics Circle.
- Who is the largest funder of National Book Critics Circle?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $21,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like National Book Critics Circle find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 National Book Critics Circle →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2024–2026), and the filings of 2 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