Connecticut · Nonprofit
POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC
POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $604,517 to it, the largest being Edward E Stone Foundation ($177,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $605k
- Net assets
- $186k
What Positive Directions-The Center for Prevention & Counseling Inc does
Mission
To provide leadership in the community with the aim of improving the lives and health of individuals and families through both comprehensive behavioral healthcare, including addictive behaviors, and prevention leadership.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
TREATMENT Positive Directions operates a psychiatric outpatient and substance abuse treatment clinic for adults and adolescents, licensed by the CT Department of Public Health and Department of Children and Families. Services include individual, couples and family counseling and support groups for adults and adolescents. All major commercial and public health insurances are accepted, including Medicare and Husky, as well as sliding scale fees. A treatment fund was created in 2020-21 for those needing financial assistance. The clinical team is comprised of several masters level clinicians and 2 clinical interns throughout the year. In FY25, there were over 700 unduplicated clients served and approximately 6,000 treatment sessions were conducted by the clinical team. Our mental health services continue to include children, which lowered the age of those we treat to 10 years old.
$714,975 spent$574,524 earned by the program62% of program spendingPREVENTION Positive Directions is a leading prevention organization in the region utilizing the strategic prevention framework model to lead substance abuse prevention efforts in Norwalk and Westport, CT. The agency is the lead partner running The Norwalk Partnership and the Westport Prevention Coalition and serves as one of the 12 sectors for the Fairfield Cares Community Coalition. They help build member capacity, gather data, coordinate meetings, provide training, and lead initiatives. In FY25, we engaged over 160 stakeholders in our coalition work to strengthen mental health prevent risky behaviors. We reached approximately 13,800 community members with education awareness efforts and engaged over 400 unduplicated high school-aged youth in Teen Nights Out activities.
$264,780 spent23% of program spendingSUPPORT Our TurningPointCT.org project provides a safe online community by and for young people in CT searching for mental wellness. Support is provided online through a peer-developed website, podcasts, and multiple social media. One of our young adults offers a Queers and Peers support group for LGBTQ plus individuals. In FY25, Positive Directions served over 500 unduplicated individuals through eight free support groups. We provided free one-to-one support to 10 youth and young adults and involved 70 young people in redesigning online mental wellness project.
$167,403 spent15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,147,158.
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 2019 to 2020, from $186k to $369k (+99%).
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 72% · 2019 61% · 2020 55% · 2021 41% · 2022 32% · 2023 33% · 2024 41% · 2025 33%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
52% of POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING 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. 3 of the last 8 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
Wilson Vanessa
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $26k → $104k.
5 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 22 of 23 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
POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
54% 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 POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 52% · 2019 46% · 2020 36% · 2021 55% · 2022 34% · 2023 27% — 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
55% of POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
86% of POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC's grant income comes from Connecticut funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $240k 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
POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC has grown faster than half of the 4,665 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,665 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $961k on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$961k
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 POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% 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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING 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 POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC?
- POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $604,517 to it, the largest being Edward E Stone Foundation ($177,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $604,517 in grants to POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC?
- Edward E Stone Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $177,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POSITIVE DIRECTIONS-THE CENTER FOR PREVENTION & COUNSELING INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Positive Directions-The Center for Prevention & Counseling →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 23 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