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New York · Nonprofit

NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC

NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC (New York) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $102,642 to it, the largest being Sonya Staff Foundation Inc ($28,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$45k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$103k
Net assets
$302k
6/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 31%
01What it does

What NYC Books Through Bars Inc does

Mission

Collection and subsequent distribution of books to individuals incarcerated in the prison system.

As stated on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ.

Program

  1. Received letters from thousands of incarcerated individuals around the country for request of books and mailed out donated books to these individuals in response with the coordinated efforts of multiple volunteer sessions weekly

    $58,689 spentof which $6,000 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $58,689.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($81k) Expenses 100 ($40k) Net assets 100 ($41k)2019 Revenue 115 ($93k) Expenses 123 ($50k) Net assets 276 ($113k)2020 Revenue 94 ($76k) Expenses 80 ($32k) Net assets 382 ($156k)2021 Revenue 110 ($90k) Expenses 106 ($43k) Net assets 497 ($203k)2022 Revenue 127 ($103k) Expenses 103 ($41k) Net assets 648 ($265k)2023 Revenue 121 ($98k) Expenses 113 ($45k) Net assets 777 ($317k)2024 Revenue 56 ($45k) Expenses 150 ($60k) Net assets 739 ($302k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (56)Expenses (150)Net assets (739)Peer revenue range

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 $41k to $113k (+176%).

$41k
$113k
$156k
$203k
$265k
$317k
$302k
2018201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

91% of NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (99% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,020 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$41k
’18
$44k
’19
$44k
’20
$47k
’21
$62k
’22
$53k
’23
−$15k
’24
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $5k → $15k.

6 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC’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

NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

64% 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 NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC.

28%
largest funder
70%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 59% · 2019 69% · 2020 74% · 2021 86% · 2022 55% · 2023 52% — 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

43% of NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

64% of NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS 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 $37k that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from New York funders.

NY
NJ
DE
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $65k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC's revenue fell 44% between 2018 and 2024.

Operating margin−34% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−9% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,607 crime & legal nonprofits under $100k, FY2024

Organizations like NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS 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

05Profile & governance

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 NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS 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.

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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 NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC?
NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC (New York) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $102,642 to it, the largest being Sonya Staff Foundation Inc ($28,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $102,642 in grants to NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS INC?
Sonya Staff Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $28,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NYC BOOKS THROUGH BARS 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.

Play a game about who funds NYC Books Through Bars →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 11 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