Alabama Hands & Voices
Legal name: Alabama Hands & Voices Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 823520492
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Birmingham, AL, USA
- Phone
- 2053355263
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Deaf/Hearing Impaired Centers
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $237,491
- Expenses
- $216,232
- Assets
- $46,969
- Liabilities
- $19,383
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SUSAN FINGERLE (PRESIDENT)
- MARIA KATZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
People named in this filing
- SUSAN FINGERLE (PRESIDENT)
- RYAN HICKMAN (TREASURER)
- CHRISTY KOCHIE (DIRECTOR)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Hands & Voices is dedicated to supporting families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing without a bias around communication modes or methodology. We are a parent-driven, non-profit organization providing families with the resources, networks, and information they need to improve communication access and educational outcomes for their children. Our outreach activities, parent/professional collaboration, and advocacy efforts are focused on enabling deaf or hard of hearing children to reach their highest potential.
What it reported doing in 2024
We established a database, a facebook group, a facebook page and a website to serve as a means of communicating information relevant to parenting deaf and hard of hearing children. We plan seminars and informal parent chats to give up-to-date and easily accessible information to parents regarding issues unique to raising and educating a deaf or hard of hearing child. We host two family retreats per year for families of deaf and hard of hearing children to provdie a relaxed and fun setting for parents of deaf and hard of hearing children to interact with and learn from each other and with professionals and deaf adults.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 86% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81.9%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -12.3% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 27.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 55.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 81.9% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $195K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.