Wisconsin · Nonprofit
AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER
AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER (Wisconsin) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,745,167 to it, the largest being GEORGE F MOSS FOUNDATION TRUST XXXXX7001 ($2,550,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $5.1M
What Afar Inc Dba the Ability Center does
Mission
To provide those impacted by disabilities with a daily opportunity to be fit, active, and healthy, and to play.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Adaptive programs: open gym and more. By partnering with community-based nonprofits, and parks & recreation departments, the ability center has been able to execute three community-based, inclusive programs that serve all abilities. 1) open gym provides an opportunity for people of all abilities to play together. 2) 3v3 community recreation wheelchair basketball league for everybody. 3) wisconsin thunder is the ability center's wheelchair basketball team for men and women with physical disabilities ages 21 and over. From veterans to civilians, the wisconsin thunder wheelchair basketball club competes in competitions primarily across the midwest.
$110,205 spent$4,200 earned by the program25% of program spendingRampup: universal community: through community collaboration, our rampup program will design, build and/or implement universally inclusive recreational opportunities and continue to empower those with disabilities through accessibility. In years past, in collaboration with milwaukee county parks, we brought accessible recreation opportunities to four county parks, and transformed milwaukee's bradford beach into america's most accessible beach with the implementation of a physical renovation along with the placement of seasonal mats and adaptive beach wheelchairs.
$133,919 spent$10,000 earned by the program30% of program spendingAsap: inclusive education: the ability center's adaptive scholastic athletic program (asap), hosts disability awareness assemblies and inclusive physical education classes. We teach students, educators, and administrators through an immersive, individual experience by puttingthem in "a different pair of shoes", providing each student and educator with the opportunity to realize that regardless of "ability" - everybody is capable.
$117,239 spent$20,009 earned by the program26% of program spendingThough no longer its fiscal agent, the organization continues to support the opportunity center's efforts to create a 300,000 square foot, intentionally reimagined community center on milwaukee's north side. Toc's facility structure and programming will be designed to meet the needs of wisconsin's most vulnerable citizens and where everyone can find activities to improve their quality of life. It is a place where all are welcomed regardless of their ability to pay or play. It is where people will find numerous opportunities to interact with each other regardless of age, race, income, religion, gender, physical or cognitive ability.
$129,600 earned by the programRampup: universal park: we are currently moving forward efforts to build america's most inclusive park in wisconsin avenue park where people of all abilities and ages can play together in a park that exemplifies universal inclusion while preserving, protecting and enhancing the natural landscape of the park.
$85,496 spent19% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $446,859.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $146k to $2.8M (+1855%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 10% · 2021 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Damian Buchman
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 21 funders, grant income rose $40k → $1.3M.
12 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 36% · 2021 53% · 2022 63% · 2023 76% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
33% of AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $624k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
44% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
56%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- The Opportunity Center Inc · exempt
- Milwaukee Athletic Institute Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER?
- AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER (Wisconsin) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,745,167 to it, the largest being GEORGE F MOSS FOUNDATION TRUST XXXXX7001 ($2,550,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $4,745,167 in grants to AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER?
- GEORGE F MOSS FOUNDATION TRUST XXXXX7001 is the largest funder on record, with $2,550,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AFAR INC DBA THE ABILITY CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 42 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing