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Darien CT | IRS ruling year: 1953 | EIN: 06-6041210
Darien Book Aid is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that improves literacy and education worldwide and builds a foundation of peace, understanding and friend ... (More)
Darien Book Aid is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that improves literacy and education worldwide and builds a foundation of peace, understanding and friendship through the free distribution of books. (Less)
Great
This charity's score is 96%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.
This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores: 90% Accountability & Finance, 10% Leadership & Adaptability. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.
We recognize that not all metrics and beacons equally predict a charity’s success. The percentage each beacon contributes to the organization’s overall rating depends on the number of beacons an organization has earned.
Use the tool below to select different beacons to see how the weighting shifts when only one, two, or three beacons are earned.
Rating histories are available for a growing number of rated organizations. Check back later to see if this organization has a rating history!
Darien Book Aid Plan Inc. has earned a 95% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2022, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us.
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Full Credit
Partial Credit
No Credit
Not ApplicableBoard Composition - 9/9 - 35/35 ptsBoard Composition - 9/9 - 35/35 pts
Charity Navigator looks for at least 3 board members, with more than 50% of those members identified as independent (not salaried).
The presence of an independent governing body is strongly recommended by many industry professionals to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters.
Source: IRS Form 990
Independent Audit or Financial Review - N/A - 0/0 ptsIndependent Audit or Financial Review - N/A - 0/0 pts
An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:
| Total Revenue Amount | Expectation to Receive Credit |
|---|---|
| $1 million or higher | Expected to complete an audit |
| $500,000 - $1 million | Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation |
| Less than $500,000 | No expectation (removed from scoring methodology) |
Source: IRS Form 990
Conflict of Interest Policy - Listed - 5/5 ptsConflict of Interest Policy - Listed - 5/5 pts
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.
Source: IRS Form 990
Board Meeting Minutes - Missing - 0/5 ptsBoard Meeting Minutes - Missing - 0/5 pts
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.
An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Source: IRS Form 990
Document Retention and Destruction - Listed - 5/5 ptsDocument Retention and Destruction - Listed - 5/5 pts
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.
Source: IRS Form 990
Whistleblower Policy - Listed - 5/5 ptsWhistleblower Policy - Listed - 5/5 pts
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.
Source: IRS Form 990
Website - Listed - 5/5 ptsWebsite - Listed - 5/5 pts
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.
Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.
Source: IRS Form 990
Full CreditPartial CreditNo CreditNot ApplicableLiabilities to Assets Ratio - 0.00% - 15/15 ptsLiabilities to Assets Ratio - 0.00% - 15/15 pts
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
| Liabilities to Assets Ratio | Amount of Credit Received |
|---|---|
| Less than 50% | Full Credit |
| 50% - 59.9% | Partial Credit |
| 60% or more | No Credit |
Source: IRS Form 990
Program Expense Ratio - 93.93% - 25/25 ptsProgram Expense Ratio - 93.93% - 25/25 pts
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
| Program Expense Percentage | Amount of Credit Received |
|---|---|
| 70% or higher | Full Credit |
| 60% - 69.9% | Partial Credit |
| 50% - 59.9% | Zero Points for Program Expense Score |
| Below 50% | Zero Points for Both Program Expense AND Liabilities to Assets Scores |
Source: IRS Form 990
No Data Available
Revenue and expense data is not available for this organization. This data is only available if this charity has at least one year of electronically-filed Form 990 data filed within the last six years.
No Data Available
Key Persons data is currently unavailable for this organization. This data is only available if this charity has at least one year of electronically-filed Form 990 data filed within the last six years.
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Activities:
Book, gift or supply store (BMF activity code: 918)
Other school related activities (BMF activity code: 059)
Library (BMF activity code: 061)
Foundation Status:
Organization that normally receives no more than one-third of its support from gross investment income and unrelated business income and at the same time more than one-third of its support from contributions, fees, and gross receipts related to exempt purposes. 509(a)(2) (BMF foundation code: 16)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Darien Book Aid Plan Inc.) or EIN (066041210) in the 'Search Term' field.
This organization was impacted by COVID-19 in a way that effected their financial health in 2020. This normally would have reduced their star rating. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them, and doing this pauses our revision of their rating. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Darien Book Aid Plan Inc. reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:
Program Delivery
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:
International book donations decreased due to school closures during the pandemic and the Peace Corps recall of their volunteers back to the US. As a result, shipping expenses decreased as compared to previous years.
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:
While international book donations decreased, we were able to donate a greater number of books domestically to underserved populations. We have recently been seeing an uptick in book requests from international schools and organizations. We expect that we will also receive many book requests from Peace Corps Volunteers once they are back overseas.
How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:
We started to donate more books locally and elsewhere in the US.
Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:
We will continue to donate more books in the US.
Not Currently Scored
Darien Book Aid Plan Inc. cannot currently be evaluated by our Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
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No 990 Program Data Found
Darien Book Aid Plan Inc. cannot currently be evaluated by our Culture & Community methodology because we have not received data from the charity regarding its Constituent Feedback or Equity Practices strategies.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
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Darien Book Aid Plan Inc. has earned a 100% for the Leadership & Adaptability beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
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Full CreditPartial CreditNo CreditNot ApplicableMission - 10/10 ptsMission - 10/10 pts
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
Darien Book Aid is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that improves literacy and education worldwide and builds a foundation of peace, understanding and friendship through the free distribution of books.
Vision - 10/10 ptsVision - 10/10 pts
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
Improving literacy and education worldwide
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Goals - 20/20 ptsGoals - 20/20 pts
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Donate hand-selected books to communities in need worldwide.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
Goal Two: Identify a greater number of US organizations and/or institutions that need our hand-selected book donations.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Three: Continue our outreach efforts so that schools, organizations and Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide can find out about our book donation program and request books for the populations they serve.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Leadership Development - 15/15 ptsLeadership Development - 15/15 pts
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
We are an all-volunteer organization (including leadership). While we certainly encourage our volunteers to share best-practices and new ideas and self-educate themselves so that they can bring new skills to our non-profit, we do not have a budget to invest in leadership development.
Mobilizing for Mission - 15/15 ptsMobilizing for Mission - 15/15 pts
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
Strategic Partnerships
Raising Awareness
We partner with multiple nonprofits to donate books to underserved communities both locally and globally. We have also increased our social media presence in recent years and developed a quarterly email newsletter, in addition to a print newsletter, that we send to our stakeholders.
Adaptability Story - 30/30 ptsAdaptability Story - 30/30 pts
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 65% of our international book donations went to Peace Corps Volunteers around the world. When the pandemic hit, all Peace Corps Volunteers were recalled to the US. In addition, many schools around the world closed due to the pandemic, so non-Peace Corps international requests for books were also down (they have recently picked back up). Meanwhile, we still had a constant supply of gently used books to donate to communities in need. We reached out to underserved communities in our local area and across the United States to find out where our supply of books could have the most impact, and identified many schools and nonprofit organizations that needed a donation of hand-selected books. We also used social media to reach out internationally and spread the word that we have books to give away. In recent months our volunteers have been busy fulfilling a constant stream of both international and domestic book requests.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
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