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Illinois · Nonprofit

HAVE DREAMS

HAVE DREAMS (Illinois) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,383,348 to it, the largest being FOR AUTISTIC KIDS FOUNDATION ($1,200,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$2.2M
Funders on record
66
Grants received
$4.4M
Net assets
$1.2M
34/66 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 42%
01What it does

What Have Dreams does

Mission

Have Dreams aspires to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder (asd) learn, function independently and socialize, so that they may realize their full potential and develop into contributing members of their communities.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Vocational: comprised of 3 main parts: life scils, project search and Have Dreams academy for participants with an autism diagnosis who are young adults. Have Dreams offers one-on-one counseling to individuals on the autism spectrum as well as to parents and/or caregivers of those with asd. Participants develop crucial vocational skills, job preparation and training, as well as community outings. Participants have an opportunity to implement work skills they develop during the program and generalize these skills in appropriate work settings. There is also a concentration on socialization through field trips, structured social activities and participation in an extensive fitness and healthy living program. There were 24 lifescils participants and 12 Have Dreams academy participants during the year.

    $713,301 spent$613,609 earned by the program
    46% of program spending
  2. Clinical services: Have Dreams offers one-on-one counseling to individuals on the autism spectrum (ages 10+) as well as to parents, caregivers, family members, and partners of those with asd. There were 106 participants who served throughout the year.

    $378,688 spent$79,390 earned by the program
    24% of program spending
  3. Training workshops and consultations: autism related trainings and workshops for families and professionals across the state of illinois including 4-3-day training and workshops. These trainings and workshops provide comprehensive instruction regarding structured teaching for children on the autism spectrum. A total of 6 trainings/workshops were held serving 222 participants. There were also online trainings offered as well as interactive consultations, observations, and trainings done with teaching professionals across the chicagoland area at their place of employment.

    $365,459 spent$93,666 earned by the program
    23% of program spending
  4. Classes: scils is a communication and life skills program that provides training and support in independent living skills for individuals with an autistic diagnosis. Classes are held in fall, winter, spring, summer and camp sessions, with 10 to 20 classes per session and one to two classes per week. Classes are held in park ridge and evanston. There were 77 total participants in evanston and 40 participants in park ridge.

    $103,344 spent$80,659 earned by the program
    7% of program spending
  5. Rental of office space to psychologist and miscellaneous revenue.

    $0 spent$15,398 earned by the program
    0% of program spending

The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,560,792.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.8M) Expenses 100 ($1.7M) Net assets 100 ($292k)2018 Revenue 106 ($1.9M) Expenses 96 ($1.7M) Net assets 172 ($502k)2019 Revenue 81 ($1.4M) Expenses 97 ($1.7M) Net assets 85 ($246k)2020 Revenue 90 ($1.6M) Expenses 85 ($1.5M) Net assets 129 ($376k)2021 Revenue 115 ($2.0M) Expenses 91 ($1.6M) Net assets 286 ($834k)2022 Revenue 105 ($1.8M) Expenses 102 ($1.8M) Net assets 447 ($1.3M)2023 Revenue 102 ($1.8M) Expenses 112 ($1.9M) Net assets 400 ($1.2M)2024 Revenue 118 ($2.1M) Expenses 115 ($2.0M) Net assets 434 ($1.3M)2025 Revenue 123 ($2.2M) Expenses 128 ($2.2M) Net assets 418 ($1.2M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (123)Expenses (128)Net assets (418)Peer revenue range

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 $1.2M to $3.3M (+185%).

$342k
$553k
$318k
$742k
$1.2M
$3.3M
$3.0M
$2.9M
$2.7M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 6% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 12% · 2022 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

48% of HAVE DREAMS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (16% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,616 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$35k
’17
$210k
’18
−$256k
’19
$127k
’20
$454k
’21
$77k
’22
−$137k
’23
$95k
’24
−$48k
’25
4.6
months of
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

Kristina Johnsen

Executive director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed119977891313
Joined·+0+1+1+0+4+1+4+1
No longer listed·21303001
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $309k → $525k.

10 of 66 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 HAVE DREAMS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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

HAVE DREAMS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left

49% 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 HAVE DREAMS.

27%
largest funder
44%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 36% · 2019 45% · 2020 24% · 2021 24% · 2022 24% · 2023 29% — 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

57% of HAVE DREAMS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

82% of HAVE DREAMS's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
WI
NY
SD
IA
NJ
CO
NE
MO
KY
MD
NC
DC
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $370k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

HAVE DREAMS is better cushioned than half of the 1,060 employment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−2% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve4.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,060 employment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like HAVE DREAMS

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 Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

70% of spending goes to programs.

Program 70%Management 16%Fundraising 13%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

95%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HAVE DREAMS: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 HAVE DREAMS?
HAVE DREAMS (Illinois) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,383,348 to it, the largest being FOR AUTISTIC KIDS FOUNDATION ($1,200,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does HAVE DREAMS have?
IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $4,383,348 in grants to HAVE DREAMS, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of HAVE DREAMS?
FOR AUTISTIC KIDS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like HAVE DREAMS find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Have Dreams →

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 66 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing