Tennessee · Nonprofit
WAVES INC
WAVES INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $881,604 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($569,884). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.2M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $882k
- Net assets
- $863k
What Waves Inc does
Mission
Assist individuals with developmental disabilities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The early learning program: this program provides developmental therapy to families and caregivers who have a child from birth to five years of age who have a developmental delay or a diagnosed condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay. Early interventionists deliver services where the child lives, learns, and plays to increase the likelihood of consistent practice with skills. In this setting, the skills learned are functionally relevant to the child and family in their everyday routine. In addition to direct support of children and their caregivers, the interventionist provides consultation and training for childcare providers. In the fiscal year 2024-2025, 526 families received services.
$1,618,943 spent$1,847,906 earned by the program51% of program spendingAdult services: our day services provide activities and structured training programs that support the acquisition, retention, or improvement in communication, daily living skills, and social skills for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Services in this program are facility and/or community-based. Intended outcomes include increased competency in daily living skills and connecting individuals with their community. Adult day services are currently provided in the williamson county community. We operate two adult day centers in franklin and fairview, where these services can be provided in addition to community-based services. 36 adults are currently being supported in this program. Individuals in this program are also encouraged to seek employment with staff support provided for all stages of their employment journey. Volunteering in the community is also encouraged to learn skills and build self-esteem. Examples of volunteer activities include packaging and delivering lunches for meals on wheels, cleaning trails at edwin warner park, assisting with food and clothes sorting at thrift stores, and assisting with mailings or filings for nonprofit organizations.…
$1,542,070 spent49% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,161,013.
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 $990k to $1.5M (+47%).
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 9% · 2019 15% · 2020 16% · 2021 16% · 2022 35% · 2023 29% · 2024 34% · 2025 46%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of WAVES INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (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
Staci Davis
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income rose $91k → $106k.
2 of 11 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.
From the IRS filings of WAVES INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
WAVES INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 WAVES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 95% · 2018 88% · 2019 88% · 2020 91% · 2021 93% · 2022 85% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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
30% of WAVES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
100% of WAVES INC's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $33k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
WAVES INC's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like WAVES 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 WAVES 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 WAVES INC?
- WAVES INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $881,604 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($569,884). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WAVES INC have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $881,604 in grants to WAVES INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WAVES INC?
- UNITED WAY OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC is the largest funder on record, with $569,884 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WAVES INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Waves →
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 11 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