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
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
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 program46% of program spendingClinical 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 program24% of program spendingTraining 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 program23% of program spendingClasses: 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 program7% of program spendingRental of office space to psychologist and miscellaneous revenue.
$0 spent$15,398 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,560,792.
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 $1.2M to $3.3M (+185%).
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 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).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Kristina Johnsen
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
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.
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.
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.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Against its field
HAVE DREAMS is better cushioned than half of the 1,060 employment nonprofits its size.
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
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.
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