California · Nonprofit
Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation
Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,569 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($20,484). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $280k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $44k
- Net assets
- $27k
What Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation does
Mission
EMPHF provides, and replaces upon need, a simple but functional mechanical prosthetic hand at no cost to amputees in developing countries.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
As of 12/31/2025,hands were distributed in 100 countries. 87,561 hands distributed since our inception and 4,140 hands distributed in 2025. On site providers (prosthetists, Rotary Clubs, volunteers and partnerships with other nonprofit organizations) remain the primary source of locating recipients and establishing a lasting presence and point of distribution. Life-changing stories and testimonials from recipients continue to come in at nearly an overwhelming rate. While our initial assessments of global need suggested approximately 100,000, we now know through data from the WHO, that about 9.0 million individuals from developing countries are missing an upper limb. In numerous instances, sometimes a single small community will need hundreds of hands to satisfy those individuals they are able to reach. The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation continues to be run and managed by a small group of dedicated volunteers.
$295,594 spent$278,997 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $295,594.
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 2021 to 2022, from $84k to $321k (+280%).
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.
100% of Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $35k → $87.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
93% 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 Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 57% · 2021 59% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
93% of Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $3k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $41k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation's revenue fell 46% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,883 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation: 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 Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation?
- Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,569 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($20,484). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $43,569 in grants to Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $20,484 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand →
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 6 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