Texas · Nonprofit
Tarrant County Association For the Blind
Tarrant County Association For the Blind (Texas) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,042,845 to it, the largest being MARY TABB AND CLYDE B THOMPSON TRUST ($1,801,712). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.8M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $10M
What Tarrant County Association For the Blind does
Mission
The mission of the lighthouse for the blind of fort worth is to encourage and empower blind and significantly visually impaired children, youth, adults and seniors to achieve their highest level of independence through competitive employment, specialized training and client services.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Blind Employment - The Lighthouse is the largest employer of the blind in Tarrant County and creates jobs for the visually impaired. Approximately seventy percent of working-age blind adults are unemployed, which contributes to increased poverty levels and isolation. To help visually impaired individuals remain independent and stay connected to their communities, the Lighthouse manages an industrial operation that provides meaningful and competitive employment. This professional workforce of blind laborers manufactures and/or packages a variety of products including fast pack shipping containers, energy dissipating pads, copy paper, spiral wound tubes, drug test kits, and eyeglasses. These products are sold by a supportive sales team generating revenue to pay the wages and full benefits of the blind employees.
$3,960,685 spent$11,997,340 earned by the program89% of program spendingClient Services - In addition to employing the blind, our Client Services team addresses the unique challenges that impact the blind community as a result of their disability. Client Services is administered by a staff of licensed/degreed and caring professionals who provide the following ongoing support at no charge to the visually disabled community: Independent Living Skills; Orientation and Mobility (White Cane Training); Assistive Technology; Braille Instruction; Support Groups; Resource Referral Network; and Cooking Without Looking Classes. In addition to providing basic support for those with a visual disability, our client services team plans events and social activities to inspire long-term relationships and connections, encourages the development of hobbies, and promotes exciting volunteer opportunities. Regardless of the level of vision loss, a customized program for each client is created based upon the initial assessment and expressed personal goals. Although vision loss creates barriers, many can be eliminated or minimized with access to information, training and education. The Lighthouse Promise: Companionship for Life to the Blind!
$475,430 spent$20,374 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,436,115.
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 2023 to 2024, from $8.7M to $12M (+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.
16% of Tarrant County Association For the Blind’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Platt Allen Iii
President/CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $42k → $260k.
6 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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: $3.1M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Tarrant County Association for the Blind Endowment Fund Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Tarrant County Association For the Blind raised.
From the IRS filings of Tarrant County Association For the Blind’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
Tarrant County Association For the Blind leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 28% · 2019 34% · 2020 29% · 2021 20% · 2022 21% · 2023 23% — 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
41% of Tarrant County Association For the Blind's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
Tarrant County Association For the Blind draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $123k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Tarrant County Association For the Blind runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Tarrant County Association For the Blind receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $32.9M on record.
- Department of Defense$32.9M
- Department of Agriculture$8k
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 Tarrant County Association For the Blind
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
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
- Tarr Cnty Assoc for the Blind Endow Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Tarrant County Association For the Blind: 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 Tarrant County Association For the Blind?
- Tarrant County Association For the Blind (Texas) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,042,845 to it, the largest being MARY TABB AND CLYDE B THOMPSON TRUST ($1,801,712). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Tarrant County Association For the Blind have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $3,042,845 in grants to Tarrant County Association For the Blind, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Tarrant County Association For the Blind?
- MARY TABB AND CLYDE B THOMPSON TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $1,801,712 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Tarrant County Association For the Blind find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Tarrant County Association For the Blind →
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 31 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