Wisconsin · Nonprofit
GOOD FRIEND INC
GOOD FRIEND INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $183,727 to it, the largest being GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC ($33,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $101k
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $184k
- Net assets
- $-13338
What Good Friend Inc does
Mission
To create autism awareness, teach acceptance of differences and foster empathy for individuals on the sutism spectrum, we use our original short films and documentary and proprietary curriculum to establish a culture of acceptance in schools, workplaces and the community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Neurodiversity at Work (NaW) program is a comprehensive initiative designed to help employers and employees better understand, support, and include neurodivergent individuals in the workplace. Grounded in Good Friend, Inc.s longstanding mission of fostering empathy, acceptance, and meaningful inclusion for people on the autism spectrum and with other neurodivergent identities, Neurodiversity at Work brings a modern, multimedia approach to organizational learning by combining documentary-style storytelling with practical, action-oriented training modules. The program centers around Good Friend, Inc.s documentary, which features the lived experiences of neurodivergent adults and amplifies authentic voices to challenge stereotypes and increase awareness. The film is paired with a series of interactive e-learning modules, each of which translates real-world scenarios into actionable guidance for supervisors, managers, teams, and human resources professionals. These modules explore key concepts such as sensory considerations, communication differences, executive functioning, psychological safety, accommodations, strengths-based management, and the creation of supportive workplace…
$12,769 spent$11,313 earned by the program42% of program spendingGood Friend Academy: Online program that includes three courses for educators- one for those working with 5-8 year old, one for 8-11 year old, and one for 11-14 year old. Each have all the multimedia tools educators need to provide Autism awareness, acceptance and empathy training to k-8th grade students. This enables any educator anywhere (with internet access) to help students be more inclusive of their peers with brain-based differences.
$2,031 spent$195 earned by the program7% of program spendingSibshops: Sibshops engage participants who have siblings with brain-based disabilities, such as Autism, youth ages 8-12 and tees ages 13-17 participate in team building exercise, arts and crafts and group discussion activities to facilitate bonding. The program creates a safe space where kids ma share the unique experiences as a sibling to someone with special needs. We are fortunate to have 3 first generation facilitators planning and coordinating the program. Participants return year after year proving that their interaction with peers in similar situations is valued and not replicated by other social experiences or programs. Sibshops run from September to May, serving 12 siblings.
$2,270 spent$1,020 earned by the program7% of program spendingOther program expenses are related to good friend, inc.'s staff development, community programs, girl scout programs and classroom programs.
$13,484 spent$10,531 earned by the program44% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $30,554.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2023 to 2024, from $64k to $19k (−71%).
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 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of GOOD FRIEND INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 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
Denise Schamens
Executive director
Board chair
Shell Dretzka
Board president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $3k → $27k.
6 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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 GOOD FRIEND INC’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
GOOD FRIEND INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
57% 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 GOOD FRIEND INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 33% · 2019 84% · 2020 44% · 2021 49% · 2022 26% · 2023 26% — 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
29% of GOOD FRIEND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
51% of GOOD FRIEND INC'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 $91k that is directly attributable, 83% of it comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $93k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
GOOD FRIEND INC's revenue fell 31% between 2019 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,754 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like GOOD FRIEND INC
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
24% 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 GOOD FRIEND INC: 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 GOOD FRIEND INC?
- GOOD FRIEND INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $183,727 to it, the largest being GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC ($33,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GOOD FRIEND INC have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $183,727 in grants to GOOD FRIEND INC, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GOOD FRIEND INC?
- GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $33,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GOOD FRIEND INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Good Friend →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 24 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