Wisconsin · Nonprofit
OPERATION FRESH START INC
OPERATION FRESH START INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,067,649 to it, the largest being The Corps Network ($1,613,867). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.0M
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $9.1M
- Net assets
- $8.9M
What Operation Fresh Start Inc does
Mission
The mission of operation fresh start, inc. Is to empower emerging adults on a path to self-sufficiency through education, mentoring, and employment training. Operation fresh start (ofs) serves disconnected youth ages 16-24 in dane county and guiding them on their path to self-sufficiency. Ofs has helped over 8,000 young people on their path to education, employment and a better life!ofs programs are designed to transform lives at a critical time in a young person's life. Our programs provide a path forward for disconnected youth through mentoring, education, and employment training. Ofs graduates earn their high school diploma and driver's license, then go on to continue their education and/or find self-sustaining employment.operation fresh start is working to ensure successful outcomes for current and future generations of low-income and people of color in our community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Drive to succeed: the drive to succeed program offers mentoring to support young adults with past or current involvement in the justice system. Through partnerships with the dept. Of corrections and metro high school (located within the dane county jail), ofs supports young people in navigating the criminal justice process, satisfying fines to obtain their driver's license, and earning their high school diploma. This program is a collaboration with justdane, a nonprofit with expertise in supporting individuals reentering society after a period of incarceration. As an incentive, drive to succeed participants earn a $20 gift card after attending each mentoring session.legacy program: the legacy program supports participants in earning their high school diploma, driver's license, and developing employment readiness skills. Participants work in small groups with an in-house teaching staff. As americorps members, participants also engage in community service work: either affordable housing construction or conservation work. After program completion, ofs staff continue to support graduates as they transition into post-secondary education or self-sustaining employment. This year, in…
$4,909,878 spent$42,535 earned by the program80% of program spendingThe academies: the academies are ofs programs for those young people who show real promise and interest in the trades or conservation work. Build academy is full-time, hire-for-service crews which work on residential and commercial construction projects throughout the community. Conservation academy is a full-time, hire-for-service crew that works on land stewardship and conservation projects throughout the county.
$1,190,637 spent$1,147,959 earned by the program20% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,100,515.
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 2024 to 2025, from $7.3M to $10M (+40%).
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 53% · 2018 38% · 2019 45% · 2020 53% · 2021 53% · 2022 54% · 2023 57% · 2024 59% · 2025 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of OPERATION FRESH START INC’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. 0 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
Brian Mcmahon
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 26 funders, grant income fell $989k → $877k.
7 of 67 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 OPERATION FRESH START INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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
OPERATION FRESH START INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
76% 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 OPERATION FRESH START INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 29% · 2019 53% · 2020 20% · 2021 22% · 2022 23% · 2023 22% — 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 OPERATION FRESH START INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
57% of OPERATION FRESH START 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. $675k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
OPERATION FRESH START INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,060 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,060 employment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding OPERATION FRESH START INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.7M on record.
- Department of Labor$2.7M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like OPERATION FRESH START 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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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
- Ofs Holdings Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPERATION FRESH START 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 OPERATION FRESH START INC?
- OPERATION FRESH START INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,067,649 to it, the largest being The Corps Network ($1,613,867). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPERATION FRESH START INC have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $9,067,649 in grants to OPERATION FRESH START INC, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPERATION FRESH START INC?
- The Corps Network is the largest funder on record, with $1,613,867 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPERATION FRESH START 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 Operation Fresh Start →
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 67 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