HEAR Wisconsin

Legal name: HEAR Wisconsin Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
390826101
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
West Allis, WI, United States
Phone
414-604-2200
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Deaf/Hearing Impaired Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,165,477
Expenses
$2,917,143
Assets
$5,956,988
Liabilities
$540,876

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jill Van Calster (CEO)
  • Jason Kuwayama (President)
  • John Lewenauer (Vice President)
  • Samantha Bane (Past President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jill Van Calster (CEO): $168,488 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

HEAR Wisconsin, a nonprofit, is Wisconsin’s premier provider of comprehensive services and resources for children, adults and seniors who are deaf or hard of hearing.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Kay Eckstein Speech & Hearing Center provides an integrated experience for clients and patients needing audiology services and/or consultation services for assistive technology equipment to be used in the home, work or other environments. Our team includes doctors of audiology and technology consultants who will determine what works best for the clients and patients based on their hearing loss and communication needs. HEAR Wisconsin launched the Mobile Audiology Clinic (MAC) to serve even more people in the community. MAC promotes hearing health care and wellness through hearing loss detection, conservation, prevention and education, as part of a community outreach initiative. MAC addresses hearing health disparities among Southeastern Wisconsin's most vulnerable, including children, the low income, homeless, uninsured and underemployed population. Annually, MAC has the potential to screen thousands of children and adults who may otherwise not have an opportunity to be screened.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.1%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 67.1%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd 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: 7.8%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.04; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.8%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 10 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 79.1% of revenue deployed · 67.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $168K · 19 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.