Oregon · Nonprofit
DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES
DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES (Oregon) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,769,687 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($341,538). 61 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 96
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $17M
What Dogs for the Deaf Inc Dba Dogs for Better Lives does
Mission
To professionally train dogs to help people and enhance lives while maintaining a lifelong commitment to all dogs we rescue or breed and the people we serve.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Incorporated in 1977, dogs for better lives (dbl) is the oldest hearing dog training center in the united states, and among one of the first assistance dog organizations in the world to be fully accredited by assistance dogs international (adi). Dbl trainers must complete an in-depth three-year apprenticeship program to become certified as assistance dog trainers. Dbl is unique in that certified trainers bring the trained assistance dogs to the clients' homes for placement, allowing for customized one-to-one client training and support. Additionally, the organization has one of the most thorough follow-up programs in the assistance dog sector. In november 2017, the national nonprofit changed its name from dogs for the deaf to dogs for better lives to better encompass the range of assistance dogs it trains and places, which includes hearing dogs, autism assistance dogs, facility dogs, and career change dogs. Dbl trains shelter dogs evaluated for appropriate temperament, confidence, and work ethic and with purpose-bred dogs within its own breeding program and through partnerships with affiliated service dog organizations across the united states, particularly guide dog programs.…
$3,586,015 spent$800 earned by the program77% of program spendingDbl's public education is primarily done through sharing of digital online media and printed materials, including its monthly enewsletter, quarterly magazine, canine listener, and annual report. Regularly, the organization presents on campus, in-person, and virtually online to several diverse audiences across the nation, demonstrating how the dogs are trained to help people, need for puppy raisers and breeder caretakers for an ever-growing breeding program, and further need for regional volunteer leaders to advocate for its national programs. Dbl is continuing to develop its volunteer programs through the launching and growth of its regional advisory boards (rab) across the country, including california, pacific northwest (or, wa, and id), and northeast (ct, ma, me, nh, nj, nj, ny and pa). Current plans include launching rabs in the south (tx) and southeast (ga, fl, tn, and sc) regions. This national program plays a critical role to dbl, in helping to advocate for and educate people about the organization's mission, share powerful impact, and engage volunteers, among other opportunities. Due to it's outreach and cultivation efforts, dbl continues to receive consistent income from…
$1,043,860 spent23% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,629,875.
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 $17M to $20M (+17%).
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: 2021 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Bryan Williams
President/CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 41 funders, grant income rose $96k → $792k.
17 of 96 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 96 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
DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
39% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 20% · 2018 24% · 2019 18% · 2020 13% · 2021 13% · 2022 16% · 2023 24% — growing more concentrated.
“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
57% of DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES draws 71% of its grant income from funders outside Oregon, across 21 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $808k arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES's funding base is broadening — from 21 funders to 41 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 50 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES: 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 DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES?
- DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES (Oregon) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,769,687 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($341,538). 61 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES have?
- IRS filings report 96 organizations giving $2,769,687 in grants to DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES, 61 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $341,538 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Dogs for the Deaf Inc Dba Dogs for Better Lives →
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 96 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