New York · Nonprofit
NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC
NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,055,449 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($4,437,833). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.9M
- Funders on record
- 57
- Grants received
- $8.1M
- Net assets
- $5.2M
What National Book Foundation Inc does
Mission
The mission of the national book foundation is to celebrate the best literature published in the united states, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture. Nbf carries out its mission through awards & honors (most notably the national book awards founded in 1950), public programs (bringing nba-honored authors to communities across the us), education & access (inspiring a love of reading in young people), and support for the literary field. More detailed information is in the description of program services on schedule o
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Awards and honorsthe national book awards (nbas) are one of the nation's most prestigious literary prizes, with a stellar record of identifying and rewarding quality writing. Within a decade of its founding in 1950, the nbas acknowledged the work of writers such as hannah arendt, w.h. Auden, saul bellow, truman capote, rachel carson, ralph ellison, william faulkner, marianne moore, vladimir nabokov, flannery o'connor, katherine anne porter, adrienne rich, eudora welty, and william carlos williams-authors who have helped shape the foundation of literature in the united states. This tradition continues, with the nbas today honoring a diverse community of writers including elizabeth acevedo, robert a. Caro, masha gessen, terrance hayes, ibram x. Kendi, laszio krasznahorkai, jacqueline woodson, jesmyn ward, and colson whitehead, among many others. Awards are selected by a panel of peer writers and literary leaders, and are currently presented in five categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people's literature. In fiscal year 2025 the winners were, respectively: james by percival everett; soldiers and kings: survival and hope in the world of human…
$2,526,388 spentof which $470,458 as grants$569,730 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,526,388.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $2.5M to $4.1M (+62%).
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: 2017 5% · 2018 4% · 2019 10% · 2020 2% · 2021 9% · 2022 5% · 2023 18% · 2024 6% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Ruth Dickey
Executive director
Board chair
David Steinberger
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $416k → $1.1M.
14 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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
NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 70%; 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: 2017 72% · 2018 82% · 2019 31% · 2020 83% · 2021 85% · 2022 38% · 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.
How long its funders stay
31% of NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
92% of NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $820k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.
Government funding NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $541k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$541k
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 NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
58%
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 NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION 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 NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC?
- NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,055,449 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($4,437,833). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $8,055,449 in grants to NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,437,833 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 57 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