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BESS THE BOOK BUS INC

EIN 51-0518142 TAMPA, FL

Revenue 2023
$418,874
Expenses 2023
$491,070

Program services were 88.5% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
B60
Classification
2000
Street
6421 N FLORIDA AVE STE D-1351

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 · 2023

Mission

Bess the Book Bus is a mobile literacy outreach dedicated to narrowing the academic achievement gap. We instill a love of reading in asset limited communities by supplying high quality books to children, caregivers, and educators and making the joy of book ownership a reality.

Activities or mission (Part I)

Bess the Book Bus is a mobile literacy outreach dedicated to narrowing the academic acheivement gap. We instill a love of reading in asset limited communities by supplying high quality books to children, caregivers, and educators and making the joy of book ownership a reality.

  • In 2023, Bess the Book Bus delivered a total of 59,246 books to 37,565 children in 19 states and 60 cities.

    Expenses $434,510 · Revenue $418,874

As filed on the 2023 return.

Officers and directors · 2023

As listed in Part VII of the 2023 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • LEAH WOOTEN

    PRESIDENT

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JENNY SCRUGGS

    VICE PRESIDENT

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • AMY SMITH

    TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • GRACE ANN ALFIERO

    SECRETARY

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • HEATHER BLACK

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • KRIS BRAZEAL

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • MARCIA ISRAELOFF

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JILL JERNIGAN

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • NATALIE SALAS

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • SHERRY WHITLEY

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JENNIFER FRANCES

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

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. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2023
    Revenue
    $418,874
    Expenses
    $491,070
    Contributions
    $415,416
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $601,166
    Expenses
    $488,809
    Contributions
    $584,648
    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

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $977,690
    Expenses
    $740,930
    Assets (EOY)
    $419,345

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $738,542
    Expenses
    $731,872
    Assets (EOY)
    $193,063

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $672,444
    Expenses
    $664,419
    Assets (EOY)
    $192,129

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $489,981
    Expenses
    $515,062
    Assets (EOY)
    $197,712

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $625,439
    Expenses
    $716,142
    Assets (EOY)
    $252,924

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $542,618
    Expenses
    $521,195
    Assets (EOY)
    $296,989

  • 2013 · 990

    Revenue
    $398,096
    Expenses
    $87,736
    Assets (EOY)
    $335,713

  • 2012 · 990

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    $86,124
    Assets (EOY)
    $27,971

  • 2011 · 990

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    $2,335,382
    Assets (EOY)
    $27,314

  • 2010 · 990

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    $412,250
    Assets (EOY)
    $26,377

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

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

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 26 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2023, the newest we have parsed for this organization.