Massachusetts · Nonprofit
FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS
FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS (Massachusetts) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,486,686 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,198,131). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.4M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What Federation for Children Wspecial Needs does
Mission
The mission of the federation for children with special needs is to empower families, engage diverse communities, and eliminate barriers to improve life outcomes for all children.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Fcsn provides information and referrals, education and training to families with children with disabilities and the professionals who serve them. We work with partner organizations to develop and disseminate best practices on family engagement. We held over 681 educational workshops on health and education related topics that were attended by families and professionals. We reached over 3,289 families in one-on-one information and referrals on special education, telehealth, and referrals to early intervention programs. We recruited and trained 744 special education surrogate parents. We hold conferences each year reaching 2,108 participants providing education, transition support, advocacy and networking opportunities. We provided leadership development training and support to 749 people. We provide information, education and support to families and professionals in spanish, chinese, portuguese, vietnamese and haitian, as well as english.
$5,864,654 spent$814,159 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,864,654.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.9M to $4.1M (+123%).
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: 2017 85% · 2018 86% · 2019 87% · 2020 86% · 2021 83% · 2023 80% · 2024 55% · 2025 73%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Pamela Nourse
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $81k → $315k.
6 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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 FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
77% 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 FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 35% · 2019 36% · 2020 32% · 2021 29% · 2022 38% · 2023 32% — 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
47% of FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
65% of FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS'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 $1.2M that is directly attributable, 74% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,665 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,665 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $11.2M on record.
- Department of Education$10.3M
- Department of Health and Human Services$950k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS
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 Massachusetts
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
99%
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 FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS: 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 FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS?
- FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS (Massachusetts) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,486,686 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,198,131). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $3,486,686 in grants to FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,198,131 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN WSPECIAL NEEDS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Federation for Children Wspecial Needs →
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 39 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