Wisconsin · Nonprofit
KIDS FORWARD INC
KIDS FORWARD INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,843,978 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($1,292,613). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $8.8M
- Net assets
- $1.4M
What Kids Forward Inc does
Mission
We inspire action and promote access to opportunity for every kid, every family, and every community in wisconsin.a wisconsin where every child thrives, notably children and families of color and those furthest from opportunity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
State education and public issues - kids forward advocates for effective, long-lasting solutions that break down barriers to success for children and families in wisconsin, notably children and families of color and those furthest from opportunity. Using research and a community-informed approach, kids forward works to help every child, every family, and every community thrive. Kids forward seeks to ensure that all children have access to high quality early learning programs with a focus on ensuring equity within the early childhood system. Research has consistently confirmed that children who participate in high quality early learning programs are more likely ready to start school ready to learn and are more successful in achieving positive long-term outcomes related to graduation, employment, and health. Goals for the early learning work include embedding parent and caregiver voice into reform of the early childhood system, eliminating racial disparities in access and outcomes, increasing investments (private and public) in training early learning teachers, providing support to early childhood programs to improve their ability to provide higher quality services, and supporting…
$1,206,024 spentof which $76,000 as grants$83,107 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,206,024.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $2.0M to $2.7M (+32%).
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: 2018 10% · 2019 19% · 2020 27% · 2021 28% · 2022 21% · 2023 28% · 2024 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of KIDS FORWARD INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Michele Mackey
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $508k → $1.1M.
3 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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 KIDS FORWARD INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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
KIDS FORWARD INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% 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
42% 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 KIDS FORWARD INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 18% · 2019 20% · 2020 21% · 2021 20% · 2022 20% · 2023 23% — 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
46% of KIDS FORWARD INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
KIDS FORWARD INC draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $623k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
KIDS FORWARD INC is better cushioned than half of the 11,274 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,274 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like KIDS FORWARD 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
60% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Kids Forward Foundation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KIDS FORWARD 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 KIDS FORWARD INC?
- KIDS FORWARD INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,843,978 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($1,292,613). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KIDS FORWARD INC have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $8,843,978 in grants to KIDS FORWARD INC, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KIDS FORWARD INC?
- The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,292,613 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KIDS FORWARD 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 32 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