Womens Prison Book Project
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Education
- Income
- $120,122
- Spending
- $103,371
- Reserves
- 10 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 96%
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending May 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
We do not score finances when yearly spending is very small or the return has too little detail. The ratios stop meaning much at that size.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending May 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending May 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $38,546 spent. Book Purchases: In 2024 Womens Prison Book Project provided free books and educational materials to more than 5,000 women trans and nonbinary people incarcerated across the United States. We purchase essential health and wellness resources like Trans Bodies Trans Selves; educational resources including GED test prep manuals; addiction and trauma recovery workbooks; career licensing and testing manuals; and materials for reentry and transition planning as well as resources of comfort and growth like novels memoirs journals daily affirmations and spiritual tomes and ship them to our community of incarcerated readers on their request to keep at no cost to the recipient. With the support of local bookstore partners who allow us to purchase some resources at cost in addition to contributions of gently used books from folks around the country we are able to allocate highly appreciated resources at an organizational cost of less than $7.65 per recipient.
- $44,053 spent. Postage Shipping and Related Supplies: In this tax year Womens Prison Book Project shipped more than 6,500 packages filled with meaningful reading materials and mailed 3,000 handwritten Valentines and other letters of connection. Each package includes three books or one journal in addition to resource guides that include contact information for organizations that provide educational legal health recovery and reentry support. Across the number of packages we mailed this year our expenses for postage and shipping supplies amount to $6.72 per shipment -- an increase over previous years due to the consistent rise of postage rates as well as an increase of returned packages due to accelerating prison restrictions.
- $13,400 spent. Occupancy: We house our collection of books and resources in a one-room office in Minneapolis Minnesota. Every Sunday we gather with volunteers to read letters from our community carefully select useful items from our bookshelves and wrap packages for shipment. Womens Prison Book Project is run entirely by volunteers including our core collective who direct the organization; we call on the support of more than 400 people who volunteer their time and energy -- some occasionally and some every week -- to be able to do this work with no labor costs.
- $2,033 spent. Information Technology and Office Expenses: The people Womens Prison Book Project serves do not have agency over their physical locations; they are moved from prison to prison and their sentences can be lengthened for minor infractions. Using online inmate-locator databases run by prisons we search for each person who will receive a package -- nearly 130 each week -- to learn if the prison in which the recipient is currently located will allow them to receive our shipments and if so with what restrictions. Our Information Technology and Office Expenses which give us access to those databases and provide materials to print resources and label packages amounted to just $0.31 per shipment this fiscal year.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending May 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending May 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since June 2001.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.