Michigan · Nonprofit
SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN (Michigan) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $918,822 to it, the largest being LAVELLE FUND FOR THE BLIND INC ($183,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $919k
- Net assets
- $4.4M
What Seedlings Braille Books for Children does
Mission
To increase the opportunity for literacy and education by providing high quality, free and low-cost braille books for blind and visually impaired children.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The organization provided reading materials for braille readers in all 50 states and several foreign countries. In 2024, approximately 47,500 books, articles, and educational products were distributed at no cost or reduced cost to recipients. Volunteers provided information technology, transcribing and proofreading services at an estimated value of $14,107. Over 1,000 titles are offered in the organization's catalog and books are provided at each level of development, from toddler board books to classic literature for older children.
$880,573 spent$137,997 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $880,573.
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.
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 $4.2M to $3.5M (−18%).
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: 2020 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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
Amanda Hercula
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $24k → $181k.
13 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
51% 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 SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 22% · 2019 29% · 2020 15% · 2021 12% · 2022 21% · 2023 33% — 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
32% of SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN draws 77% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $335k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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.
Organizations like SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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 SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN: 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 SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN?
- SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN (Michigan) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $918,822 to it, the largest being LAVELLE FUND FOR THE BLIND INC ($183,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $918,822 in grants to SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN?
- LAVELLE FUND FOR THE BLIND INC is the largest funder on record, with $183,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SEEDLINGS BRAILLE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Seedlings Braille Books for Children →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 37 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