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Missouri · Nonprofit

MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS

MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS (Missouri) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,991,782 to it, the largest being MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA ($9,441,473). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$9.7M
Funders on record
117
Grants received
$17M
Net assets
$9.8M
66/117 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 47%
01What it does

What Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri and Kansas does

Mission

Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. It is the founding principle of our vision to grant the wish of every eligible child, between the ages of 2 1/2 and 18. For wish kids, just the act of making their wish come true can give them the courage to comply with their medical treatments. With our wish making process we strive to bring a sense of excitement and hope during extremely difficult times and deliver a joyful life changing experience whether the wish is a princess party, swim with the dolphins, or the countless other possibilities dreamed up by the magical mind of a child. The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri and Kansas granted 359 life changing wishes in the fiscal year ending august 31, 2025. The total cost of wishes granted for the fiscal year was $5,582,561. Of this amount, $681,137 was contributed by various vendors who provided in-kind contributions such as travel and travel services, transportation, lodging, and other services and use of facilities to complete a child's wish. For financial statement purposes, these amounts are included as contribution revenue and granted wish expense. For form 990, however, the irs requires this amount be excluded from both revenue and expense.

    $4,901,424 spentof which $3,372,081 as grants$252,375 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,901,424.

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 ($4.6M) Expenses 100 ($5.1M) Net assets 100 ($2.9M)2019 Revenue 141 ($6.5M) Expenses 124 ($6.4M) Net assets 133 ($3.9M)2020 Revenue 105 ($4.9M) Expenses 91 ($4.7M) Net assets 144 ($4.2M)2021 Revenue 129 ($6.0M) Expenses 85 ($4.4M) Net assets 210 ($6.1M)2022 Revenue 147 ($6.8M) Expenses 121 ($6.2M) Net assets 209 ($6.1M)2023 Revenue 138 ($6.4M) Expenses 152 ($7.8M) Net assets 168 ($4.9M)2024 Revenue 214 ($9.9M) Expenses 150 ($7.7M) Net assets 249 ($7.3M)2025 Revenue 210 ($9.7M) Expenses 144 ($7.4M) Net assets 337 ($9.8M)
'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (210)Expenses (144)Net assets (337)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 2024 to 2025, from $8.9M to $12M (+30%).

$4.7M
$4.3M
$4.9M
$7.0M
$6.7M
$6.8M
$8.9M
$12M
'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 6% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

97% of MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,814 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$517k
’17
$158k
’19
$171k
’20
$1.6M
’21
$558k
’22
−$1.4M
’23
$2.2M
’24
$2.3M
’25
5.2
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

Caroline Schmidt

President & CEO

Board chair

Jeff Eden

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed2522242320242823
Joined··+7+1+2+6+9+3
No longer listed··525258
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 47 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $1.7M.

26 of 117 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $278k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Make-A-Wish Foundation of Kansas Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS raised.

From the IRS filings of MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 117 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

MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

87% 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 MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS.

56%
largest funder
68%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 72% · 2018 68% · 2019 64% · 2020 52% · 2021 38% · 2022 55% · 2023 53% — 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

44% of MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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

MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS draws 80% of its grant income from funders outside Missouri, across 20 states in all.

VT
MN
IL
WI
NY
NV
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
MO
DE
AZ
KS
NC
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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

MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 7,349 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin24% · top quartile
Months of reserve5.2mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,349 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS

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 Missouri

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

66% of spending goes to programs.

Program 66%Management 12%Fundraising 22%

Governance

17
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

91%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS: 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.

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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 MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS?
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS (Missouri) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,991,782 to it, the largest being MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA ($9,441,473). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS have?
IRS filings report 117 organizations giving $16,991,782 in grants to MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS, 66 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS?
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $9,441,473 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF MISSOURI AND KANSAS find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri and Kansas →

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 117 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