Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
264352103
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Poulsbo, WA, USA
Phone
2066184201
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Deaf/Hearing Impaired Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$268,185
Expenses
$289,209
Assets
$412,361
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Chris Harig (President Director)
  • Paige Stringer (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Paige Stringer (Executive Director): $123,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To help babies and young children with hearing loss living in low resource countries access the early identification hearing technology and locally-based professional support they need to listen talk and achieve their full potential. We develop and implement programs with in-country partners to improve heath care and early education and raise awareness for pediatric hearing loss and available interventions. The GFCHLs proprietary training program is a core component of its work.

What it reported doing in 2025

The GFCHL successfully executed professional training and community outreach initiatives in August 2025 in three regions of Kenya Nairobi Eldoret Machakos to support the pediatric hearing care infrastructure that it is helping to build for babies and children with hearing loss in the country. Our goals were to: 1 Raise awareness with health education providers and community about pediatric hearing loss and the Continuum of Care; 2 Promote early identification and timely interventions of hearing loss in children among family members to minimize impact on child development; 3 Train teachers to support academic progress in children with hearing aids cochlear implants; 4 Reduce community-wide stigma and misinformation; and 5 Empower participants to share new knowledge and information in their communities. The GFCHL professional team of pediatric audiologists and auditory-verbal therapists and GFCHL Executive Director developed training content and led all seminars. GFCHL presentations and materials were bound into handbooks for participants to keep share with others and use in their clinical work. GFCHL also purchased and donated hearing screening equipment to the Wamunyu Health Center in Machakos during this initiative. We led a special training workshop for the local medical providers on how to use the equipment. The training workshop concluded with a practicum session with local families who attended the outreach program and brought their babies and children in to the health center for hearing testing. In the months before the outreach program GFCHL and its local partners led a task force of county health officials to design hearing screening protocols that were ultimately endorsed by County Department of Health. The Wamunyu Health Center began pediatric hearing screening in November 2025. It is the only county health facility aside from Machakos County Referral Hospital that has this capability. We have been monitoring the screening initiative to ensure success. The GFCHL team traveled 670+ miles to three regions of Kenya. 400+ Kenyan participants from 6 counties equivalent of US states participated. This initiative achieved its goals and helped lay the foundation for new collaborations and expansion of the GFCHLs work in Kenya.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.6%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 10th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.8%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.43; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 42.7%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.6% of revenue deployed · 82.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 9 filed program accomplishments · $238K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $124K · 9 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $124K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.