What Books For Troops does

Books For Troops (legally Books for Troops Tampa Bay, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2011 in Tampa Bay, Florida by Patricia Murphy. The organization ships free books to active duty US military personnel worldwide through APO, FPO, and DPO addresses, serving all six branches — Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. It maintains a library and operations center in Tampa Bay with a catalog of over 20,000 titles spanning fiction, nonfiction, history, biography, science, military, and thriller genres. Service members browse the online catalog independently, select titles they want, and submit requests with their military mailing address; volunteers then pack and ship the books at no cost, with no return obligation.

The underlying technology is a simple online catalog system with a searchable database of titles hosted at booksfortroops.org. The proprietary operational capability is the logistics integration with military mailing systems — accepting and processing APO, FPO, and DPO addresses for worldwide delivery to all service branches. The organization is run by a small team (11–50, likely volunteers) and funded entirely by charitable donations, with all contributions directed toward shipping costs. Donor touchpoints include the website, PayPal Giving Fund (zero transaction fees), email outreach (2–3 business day response time), social media, and community-organized fundraising events such as golf tournaments, dinner galas, trivia nights, and 5K runs. Books for Troops was incorporated in Florida on March 27, 2012, operates under EIN 45-4573522, and holds IRS-recognized tax-exempt public charity status, making all donations tax deductible.

The go-to-market model is direct-to-consumer to active duty military personnel, discovered via online search, military community word-of-mouth, and social media. The organization maintains no paid marketing, no commercial revenue, and no enterprise contracts. Customer acquisition is organic and donor-driven, with no external investors, venture capital, or parent company. The leadership team consists solely of founder Patricia Murphy, and there is no evidence of acquisition, merger, or ownership change since founding.

Name

Books For Troops

Legal name

Books for Troops Tampa Bay, Inc.

Website

https://booksfortroops.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Books For Troops is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2011 in Tampa Bay, Florida, that ships books free of charge from a 20,000+ title catalog to active duty US military personnel worldwide across all six service branches.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Book Distribution Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Veterans Affairs & Military Family Services (BPAIAHAL)

Keywords

• Nonprofit book distribution
• Military charity services
• Free book shipping
• Troop reading programs
• Military donation programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Land O Lakes

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Donor Contributions: Books for Troops operates entirely on charitable donations. Every dollar donated goes toward shipping costs to deliver books to active military personnel. The organization maintains lean operations to maximize impact of donor funds.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Books for Troops maintains an online catalog of over 20,000 book titles and ships selected books free of charge to active duty US military personnel worldwide at APO, FPO, and DPO addresses. Service members browse the catalog, choose exactly what they want to read, submit a request with their military mailing address, and receive the books as gifts they keep — with no return obligation and no cost to the recipient. The organization is funded entirely by donor contributions that cover shipping costs.

Product overview

Books for Troops operates as a single unified nonprofit service rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The organization provides a free book distribution service consisting of two interconnected components: an online searchable catalog of over 20,000 book titles (covering fiction, nonfiction, history, biography, science, military, and thriller genres) that allows service members to browse and select exactly what they want, combined with a free international shipping service that delivers books to active US military personnel worldwide using APO, FPO, and DPO addresses. The catalog and shipping service work together as a single integrated offering — service members browse the catalog, submit requests with their military mailing address, and volunteers pack and ship books directly to them. The books are gifted to recipients at no cost and require no return.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Free Book Shipping Service

Named customers6 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Operation Gratitude: Nonprofit that sends care packages to US military personnel, veterans, and first responders. Comparable volunteer-driven, donation-funded distribution model to deployed service members, though at much larger scale and broader package scope.
• Packages from Home: Nonprofit that assembles and ships care packages to deployed US military personnel. Highly comparable donation-funded nonprofit model targeting the same active-duty recipient base through direct shipping, though with broader package contents rather than books specifically.
• Soldiers' Angels: Nonprofit supporting active-duty service members, veterans, and military families through multiple programs including letter writing, food assistance, and care packages. Same beneficiary community and donation-funded operating model.
• Cell Phones for Soldiers: Nonprofit providing free communication tools (prepaid phones, calling cards, mobile data) to active-duty military and veterans. Comparable donation-funded model serving deployed service members, addressing recreational/welfare needs during deployment.
• Operation Paperback: Nonprofit organization that collects and sends books directly to deployed US military personnel overseas. Most direct comparable — same beneficiary population, same book-distribution model, same free-of-charge recipient experience.
• HeroBox: Nonprofit that ships care packages of snacks, entertainment items, and personal notes to deployed US troops. Comparable volunteer-run, donation-funded nonprofit targeting the same deployed-military morale/welfare use case.

Broad incumbents

• Armed Services YMCA: Established nonprofit providing programs and services to active-duty service members and their families. Same military-community target and nonprofit funding model, with broader program breadth than a single-distribution service like Books for Troops.
• Fisher House Foundation: Major nonprofit supporting military and veteran families through housing near medical centers and additional assistance programs. Comparable donor-funded model serving the broader military family community rather than active-duty deployed personnel specifically.
• Wounded Warrior Project: Large nonprofit providing programs and services to wounded veterans and their families. Comparable donor-funded model serving the military community, though with focus on post-service wounded-veteran support rather than active-duty deployment welfare.
• USO (United Service Organizations): Large established nonprofit providing programs, entertainment, and welfare services to active-duty military and their families worldwide. Comparable donor-funded model supporting the same recipient community, but at vastly greater scale and broader service scope (entertainment centers, family events, transition programs).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Books4TroopsTB
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/books-for-troops

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Books For Troops