Wisconsin · Nonprofit
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,068,270 to it, the largest being MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA ($10,301,284). 100 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.6M
- Funders on record
- 150
- Grants received
- $19M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin Inc does
Mission
Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
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 any of the countless other possibilities dreamed up by the magical mind of a child. The make-a-wish foundation of wisconsin granted 434 life-changing wishes in the fiscal year ending august 31, 2025. The total cost of wishes granted for the fiscal year was $8,683,174 of this amount, $865,702 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 to be excluded from both revenue and expense.
$7,817,473 spentof which $5,780,579 as grants$7,350 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,817,473.
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 2020 to 2021, from $16M to $21M (+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: 2021 4% · 2022 4% · 2023 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 40 funders to 66 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $2.8M.
32 of 150 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 150 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 WISCONSIN INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
88% 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 WISCONSIN INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 61% · 2018 60% · 2019 55% · 2020 58% · 2021 55% · 2022 34% · 2023 58% — 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
51% of MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.7M 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.
Against its field
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC's funding base is broadening — from 40 funders to 66 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF 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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF 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 MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC?
- MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,068,270 to it, the largest being MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA ($10,301,284). 100 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC have?
- IRS filings report 150 organizations giving $19,068,270 in grants to MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC, 100 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF WISCONSIN INC?
- MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $10,301,284 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF 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.
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 150 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