Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

What it reported doing in 2024

Adult education & outreach aeo delivered 96 outreach/educational presentations to businesses, universities, law enforcement, first responders, congregations, and agencies and made over 200 referrals to external resources, serving over 2,000 unduplicated clients across the state. Aeo delivered 153 hours of asl i, ii, and iii and community education in classes that were onsite, online, or community based, including almost 200 asl students and over 50 educational workshops for our deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing communities. We presented a statewide driver's education class and continued our statewide, virtual ged students for deaf and hard of hearing students. Aeo hosted our 6th, annual trunk or treats, tax days, community health & vaccine clinics, thanksgiving, game days, and signing santa as well as special deaf nights out in rural counties. With the Tennessee organization for the deaf-blind, we hosted our second deaf-blind game day. We had great deaf nights out with our young professionals, including a very special night in which illusions in clarksville created a role play game especially for our deaf players. Advocacy the standout story of advocacy this year came with the tragic floods in east Tennessee. Bridgeseast jumped into action to respond to the many needs, contacting deaf and hard of hearing individuals directly impacted, ensuring they were safe and aware of resources, and then coordinating access to those resources. Additionally, we provided home-cooked meals and laundry services as well as volunteer opportunities where our community could join in relief efforts. From our bridgestn office, we coordinated with tema and fema to ensure access to information through interpreters and captions. Bridgesdhh continued our work in increasing the quality of and the access to mental health care for our community. We renewed open caption movies for summer series hosted by nashville, clarksville, murfreesboro, mcminnville, and cookeville. We worked with hca healthcare to create training videos on working effectively with deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing patient and families. Bridgestn continued our collaboration with the nashville soccer club to provide interpreters at all home games. Empowerment empowerment served 1,235 clients in fy25. Our case management program served individual clients in areas such as jobs, housing, individual access, education, and assisting clients with written english. Other priorities were food security, training opportunities, educational advocacy, and advocacy for access to health care, mental health care, and other services. Highlights include working with one client in middle and west Tennessee who were unemployed and unhoused. We worked with these clients for months to navigate systems and opportunities, achieving positive outcomes of employment and stable housing. One standout story was a collaboration with hearts of home. A client who had lived in his car with his dogs for over a decade moved into a tiny home built just for him and his canine best friends. Bridgestn welcomed vocational rehab counselors to our offices bimonthly to increase access for clients. We partnered with genoa healthcare to host vaccine and community health clinics. Our empowerment manager at bridgestn served on the mayor's advisory committee for people with disabilities. Youth education & services little aces welcomed new deaf mentors who meet with families with d/deaf and hard of hearing children ages 0 to 5 each week. Those families also have access to a free, weekly parent asl class offered virtually. We matched families in east, middle, and west Tennessee. Enrollment in little aces doubled enrollment with over two dozen families now part of our bridgesdhh family. At bridgestn, we delivered school-based mentoring, providing weekly deaf mentors for eakin elementary and west end middle school. We hosted quarterly youth social events and opened online tutoring hours. Bridgestn hosted camp sign me up, a day camp

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 92.3%; rating input score 92
• Program expense ratio: 88.1%; rating input score 88
• Fundraising efficiency: $9.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Missing
• 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -4.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.2%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings