Wheels For Wishes

Legal name: Car Donation Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263408048
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2009
Location
St Louis Park, MN, USA
Phone
1-855-278-9474
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$57,222,232
Expenses
$57,497,547
Assets
$10,898,363
Liabilities
$3,982,430

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LEE ORWIG (PRESIDENT)
  • LOREN DORSHOW (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • LOREN DORSHOW (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $304,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Wheels For Wishes is a car donation charity that uses proceeds from donated vehicles (and other property) to help Make-A-Wish and other children’s wish & hospital charities grant life-changing wishes for children facing critical illness. Wheels for Wishes benefiting numerous Make-A-Wish® chapters, Vehicles for Veterans benefiting disabled veterans, and Animal Car Donation benefiting animal rescue organizations. Read More CDF's mission is to help these benefitting charities fulfill their missions with proceeds from CDF's car donation programs. CDF and all benefitting charities are separate and unaffiliated 501c organizations. Car Donation Foundation (dba Wheels For Wishes) benefits Make-A-Wish or other children's wish & hospital charities in various locations throughout the United States, helping grant wishes and more for children in their local communities who have been diagnosed...

What it reported doing in 2025

Financially support other charitable organizations through motor vehicle and other property donations. Donors contribute motor vehicles which are sold by wholesale auction houses to the general public. Substantially all proceeds, after expense, are donated to recipient charities. Recipient charities consist of 56 make-a-wish chapters all over the country, 26 veteran organizations with programs impacting the entire united states, certain children's charities and pediatric hospitals in different parts of the united states and animal humane, assistance and adoption charities. Since the program began, a milestone goal of donating in excess of $120 million to charity recipients was reached in 2023.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 99% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 25
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 24.9%; rating input score 25
  • Program expense ratio: 32.4%; rating input score 32
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 65th 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: -0.5%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.5%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 24.9% of revenue deployed · 32.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $18.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $304K · 7 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $22.3M reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 91 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 90 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.