Wisconsin · Nonprofit
HEAR Wisconsin Inc
HEAR Wisconsin Inc (Wisconsin) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,103,819 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC ($1,792,160). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 59
- Grants received
- $5.1M
- Net assets
- $5.4M
What HEAR Wisconsin Inc does
Mission
The organization seeks to help infants, children and adults reach their fullest potential by eliminating communication and language barriers through personalized services, technology and education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Kellogg Child & Family Program provides appropriate early intervention services to children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. The team include Listening and Spoken Language certified, auditory-verbal therapists and speech-language pathologists and sign language instructors. Services are provided in the facility and in natural environments including homes, daycares, schools and via the web through our ConnectHEAR teleintervention program for families living in remote, rural areas where services are not readily available (and during the pandemic to keep everyone safe). Parents learn from the specialized professionals how to encourage their child's development of communication, auditory, language, cognitive, speech and social skills so they can be on par with their hearing peers as they enter kindergarten.
$583,834 spent$194,424 earned by the program30% of program spendingThe Kay Eckstein Speech & Hearing Center provides an integrated experience for clients and patients needing audiology services and/or consultation services for assistive technology equipment to be used in the home, work or other environments. Our team includes doctors of audiology and technology consultants who will determine what works best for the clients and patients based on their hearing loss and communication needs. HEAR Wisconsin launched the Mobile Audiology Clinic (MAC) to serve even more people in the community. MAC promotes hearing health care and wellness through hearing loss detection, conservation, prevention and education, as part of a community outreach initiative. MAC addresses hearing health disparities among Southeastern Wisconsin's most vulnerable, including children, the low income, homeless, uninsured and underemployed population. Annually, MAC has the potential to screen thousands of children and adults who may otherwise not have an opportunity to be screened.
$775,294 spent$861,017 earned by the program40% of program spendingOur center has a wide array of assistive technology devices such as caption phones, amplified phones, bed alarm shakers, visual fire alarm systems, and more to help people of all ages and all degrees of hearing loss. Our technology experts provide free consultation to determine best technology solutions for use in the home, work or in social environments. For over 25 years, HEAR Wisconsin has assisted individuals who are Deaf, blind, low vision, hard of hearing, or have a speech or physical disability utilize Wisconsin's Telecommunication Equipment Purchase Program (TEPP). TEPP helps Wisconsin residents cover the cost of specialized equipment needed for basic telephone services, such as iPhones, Samsung Droids, iPads, captioned phones, sound alert devices, and amplified phones.
$599,418 spent$158,367 earned by the program31% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,958,546.
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 2019 to 2020, from $4.8M to $5.6M (+17%).
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 17% · 2018 17% · 2019 13% · 2020 19% · 2021 14% · 2022 14% · 2023 30% · 2024 24% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of HEAR Wisconsin Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
Jill Van Calster
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $337k → $836k.
12 of 59 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 HEAR Wisconsin Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 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
HEAR Wisconsin Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
61% 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 HEAR Wisconsin Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 64% · 2019 79% · 2020 32% · 2021 35% · 2022 28% · 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
66% of HEAR Wisconsin Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% 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
76% of HEAR Wisconsin Inc's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
HEAR Wisconsin Inc runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like HEAR Wisconsin 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
67% 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 HEAR Wisconsin 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 HEAR Wisconsin Inc?
- HEAR Wisconsin Inc (Wisconsin) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,103,819 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC ($1,792,160). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HEAR Wisconsin Inc have?
- IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $5,103,819 in grants to HEAR Wisconsin Inc, 46 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HEAR Wisconsin Inc?
- UNITED WAY OF GREATER MILWAUKEE & WAUKESHA COUNTY INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,792,160 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HEAR Wisconsin 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 HEAR Wisconsin →
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 59 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