BERNIES BOOK BANK

As filed

Subsection

03

NTEE code

O50

Classification

1200

Street

917 W NORTH SHORE DR

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2025

• BERNIE'S BOOK BANK IS A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO A SOLVABLE PROBLEM: MITIGATING THE CHILDREN'S LITERACY CRISIS. WE'RE A NONPROFIT THAT TRANSFORMS CHILDREN'S LIVES THROUGH BOOK OWNERSHIP BY SOURCING, PROCESSING AND DISTRIBUTING FREE, HIGH-QUALITY BOOKS TO CHILDREN WHO NEED THEM MOST. SINCE OUR FOUNDING IN 2009, WE'VE DELIVERED MORE THAN 30 MILLION BOOKS INTO CHILDREN'S HANDS AND HOMES, INCLUDING MORE THAN 2.5 MILLION IN 2025. TODAY, WE SERVE MORE THAN 315,000 CHILDREN ANNUALLY ACROSS OUR CHICAGOLAND, GREATER MILWAUKEE AND FLORIDA SUNCOAST CHAPTERS. FUNDED BY GENEROUS DONORS AND COMMITTED COMPANIES AND FUELED BY A PASSIONATE TEAM OF PARTNERS AND VOLUNTEERS, WE BELIEVE BETTER FUTURES BEGIN WITH BOOKS.WHAT SETS US APART: WE'RE LASER-FOCUSED ON ONE THING, GETTING BOOKS INTO CHILDREN'S HANDS. THIS DRIVES WHAT WE DO EVERY DAY TO BE EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT AND SCALABLE. WE KEEP IT SIMPLE, THREE THINGS, DONE EXCEPTIONALLY WELL.(1) WE SOURCE QUALITY NEW AND GENTLY USED CHILDREN'S BOOKS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS WITH SCHOOLS, BUSINESSES, BOOK PUBLISHERS AND DISTRIBUTORS. BERNIE'S BOOK BANK MANAGES THE COLLECTION PROCESS, TAKING THE BURDEN OFF SCHOOLS AND PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS, MAXIMIZING DONATIONS OF QUALITY BOOKS AND MINIMIZING COSTS.(2) WE PROCESS BOOKS AT OUR PROCESSING CENTER, POWERED BY A PASSIONATE COLLECTIVE OF VOLUNTEERS OF ALL AGES AND ALL ABILITIES, INCLUDING INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITY SERVICE GROUPS AND CORPORATE TEAMS, WHO TOGETHER CONTRIBUTED MORE THAN 46,653 HOURS IN 2025. TOGETHER THEY MOVE MOUNTAINS OF BOOKS, STICKERING, SORTING AND BAGGING THEM FOR EACH CHILD.(3) WE FOCUS ON COMMUNITIES WHERE CHILDREN ARE LEAST LIKELY TO HAVE BOOKS OF THEIR OWN, DISTRIBUTING EIGHT FREE BOOKS, EVERY YEAR, TO CHILDREN FROM BIRTH THROUGH SIXTH GRADE. PARTNERING WITH SCHOOLS THAT HAVE AT LEAST 40 PERCENT ENROLLMENT IN THE FREE OR REDUCED LUNCH PROGRAM (FRLP) OR RECEIVE WHOLE-SCHOOL TITLE I FUNDS, WE GET BOOKS INTO THE HANDS OF CHILDREN WHO NEED THEM MOST. WE ALSO REACH OUR YOUNGEST READERS THROUGH WIC (WOMEN, INFANTS AND CHILDREN) PROGRAMS.

  Expenses $4,605,653

As filed on the 2025 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Officers and directors · 2025

As listed in Part VII of the 2025 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

• 2025

  Revenue

  $9,463,630

  Expenses

  $6,013,621

  Contributions

  $9,051,513

  Grants paid

  $0

• 2024

  Revenue

  $6,359,662

  Expenses

  $5,684,851

  Contributions

  $6,330,838

  Grants paid

  $0

• 2023

  Revenue

  $6,033,331

  Expenses

  $5,896,740

  Contributions

  $6,144,528

  Grants paid

  $0

• 2022

  Revenue

  $5,790,172

  Expenses

  $5,336,476

  Contributions

  $5,942,659

  Grants paid

  $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

• 2023 · 990-T

  Revenue

  — not reported

  Expenses

  — not reported

  Assets (EOY)

  — not reported

• 2022 · 990-T

  Revenue

  — not reported

  Expenses

  — not reported

  Assets (EOY)

  — not reported

• 2021 · 990

  Revenue

  $5,338,491

  Expenses

  $4,177,575

  Assets (EOY)

  $4,290,880

• 2021 · 990-T

  Revenue

  — not reported

  Expenses

  — not reported

  Assets (EOY)

  — not reported

• 2020 · 990

  Revenue

  $4,899,035

  Expenses

  $4,701,028

  Assets (EOY)

  $3,547,957

• 2020 · 990-T

  Revenue

  — not reported

  Expenses

  — not reported

  Assets (EOY)

  — not reported

• 2019 · 990

  Revenue

  $5,523,392

  Expenses

  $6,487,942

  Assets (EOY)

  $3,075,628

• 2018 · 990

  Revenue

  $6,224,528

  Expenses

  $6,097,108

  Assets (EOY)

  $3,945,008

• 2017 · 990

  Revenue

  $5,026,474

  Expenses

  $5,749,763

  Assets (EOY)

  $3,735,143

• 2017 · 990

  Revenue

  $5,113,611

  Expenses

  $5,787,312

  Assets (EOY)

  $3,819,557

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all. Showing the 10 most recent; the API carries the rest.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

• FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND

  $856,801

  2024 · For grant recipient's exempt purposes

• THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST

  $383,450

  2024 · General support for programs, operations and other charitable purposes

• THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST

  $179,700

  2023 · General support for programs, operations and other charitable purposes

• FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND

  $146,005

  2023 · For grant recipient's exempt purposes

• FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND

  $120,480

  2022 · For grant recipient's exempt purposes

• THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST

  $105,600

  2022 · General Operating Support

• GULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC

  $101,000

  2024 · EDUCATION

• DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING

  $71,250

  2024 · HUMAN SERVICES

• AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC

  $67,182

  2024 · GENERAL SUPPORT

• REED CONSTRUCTION FOUNDATION

  $63,700

  2023 · CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Other IRS files