Family Connect of Wisconsin

What Family Connect of Wisconsin does

Family Connect of Wisconsin is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating as a ministry of Silver Birch Ranch, launched in 2023 with startup funding secured through a Lilly Endowment grant. The organization builds Community Networks county by county across Wisconsin, currently operating in at least seven counties (Dane, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Juneau, Waukesha, Green Lake, Winnebago, plus Racine and Langlade). Its core technology is the CarePortal platform, a care-sharing system that enables child-serving agencies to submit verified, real-time needs for families and routes those needs to trained church response teams and community responders who fulfill requests for items such as furniture, baby supplies, clothing, and other basic necessities.

The organization's product surface is organized around four stakeholder channels: agencies (requestors), churches (Response Teams), businesses (Community Champions), and individuals (Community Responders). Supporting programs include virtual Response Team Training and Agency Training, monthly Church Connection Calls by region, and in-person Network Gatherings to mark county launches and one-year anniversaries. The full-time team comprises roughly 5 to 11 staff, including a Founder/President, Executive Director, Communications Director, two Regional Managers, and an Operations and Development Coordinator.

Revenue is generated entirely through donations from individuals, businesses, churches, and planned giving vehicles including IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, appreciated stock, Donor Advised Funds, employer matching gifts, and cryptocurrency. All services are provided free of charge to families in need. The go-to-market combines community-led organizing (recruiting church response teams, enrolling county agencies, engaging businesses as Community Champions) with event-driven engagement (training sessions, connection calls, network gatherings). Revenue figures are not publicly disclosed.

Name

Family Connect of Wisconsin

Legal name

Family Connect of Wisconsin

Website

https://familyconnectwi.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Family Connect of Wisconsin is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds county-by-county Community Networks in Wisconsin, connecting child-serving agencies with churches, businesses, and individuals through the CarePortal platform to meet practical needs for children and families.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Social and Family Support Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Child and Youth Services (62411)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Family & Parenting Support Services (BPAGAEAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Family Resource Centers & Wraparound Support Services (EDACALAH), Family & Parent Support Services (Parent Coaching, Advocacy) (EDAJALAK)

Keywords

• Community network coordination
• Family support services
• Church community engagement
• Volunteer mobilization programs
• Nonprofit social services

Headquarters

HQ city

Rhinelander

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: One-time and recurring donations from individuals, including monthly supporters. Donations can be directed to specific counties or general fund.
2. Corporate/Business Donations: Business Community Champions provide donations and item sourcing to meet family needs through CarePortal.
3. Church Donations: Church partners donate items and funding through the CarePortal response team network.
4. Planned Giving: Accepts IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), appreciated stock donations, Donor Advised Funds, employer matching gifts, estate and asset giving, and cryptocurrency donations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Family Connect of Wisconsin coordinates Community Networks across Wisconsin counties, connecting social-service agencies, churches, businesses, and individual volunteers to provide material and relational support to families in crisis. Its work is delivered through the CarePortal technology platform, which matches verified family needs with local responders, supplemented by training programs and church engagement initiatives. Services are provided free of charge to families and are funded entirely by charitable donations.

Product overview

Family Connect of Wisconsin operates as a unified service platform built around Community Networks and the CarePortal technology. The core offering consists of Community Networks that connect child-serving agencies with local churches, businesses, and individuals who meet real-time practical needs for families. The CarePortal technology serves as the connecting platform, enabling agency workers to submit verified needs while Church Response Teams and Community Responders fulfill those needs. Supporting programs include Community Champions for business engagement, Community Responders for individual volunteers, Agency Training for partner organizations, Response Team Training for church volunteers, and Church Connection Calls for ongoing community coordination. The organization operates county-by-county networks including Dane, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Juneau, Waukesha, Winnebago, and Green Lake counties.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Networks County-by-county networks in Wisconsin that coordinate local agencies, churches, businesses, and individual volunteers to respond to family needs.
• CarePortal Engagement Deployment of the CarePortal platform to connect verified family needs posted by partner agencies with trained local responders in Wisconsin.
• Church Response Teams Structured teams within partner churches trained and equipped to respond to family needs through CarePortal.
• Community Champions Business engagement program that mobilizes Wisconsin businesses to support Community Networks through donations, in-kind goods, and volunteer capacity.
• Community Responders Individual volunteer program that recruits and onboards Wisconsin residents to respond to family needs posted through CarePortal.
• Agency Training Training program for partner agencies on how to use CarePortal and the Community Network to connect families with local resources.
• Response Team Training Training program for volunteer Response Teams (church and individual responders) on engaging safely and effectively with families in need.
• Church Connection Calls Regular virtual gatherings for partner churches to share updates, training, and coordination around Community Network activity.

Quantifiable outcome

• 85%+ of church responders report CarePortal made them more aware of community needs and easier to assist
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, supporting and minor.

• Silver Birch RanchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSilver Birch Ranch is the parent organization of Family Connect of Wisconsin. Family Connect launched as a ministry of Silver Birch Ranch in 2023 with startup funding from a Lilly Endowment grant. Silver Birch Ranch provides governance through its Board of Trustees and hosts camps for foster kids, horse therapy, and retreats for foster and adoptive families.
• CarePortalcoreTechnology or IntegrationCarePortal is the technology platform that drives Family Connect's Community Networks. It is a care-sharing technology that enables child-serving agencies to submit verified family needs, alerts church response teams and community members to open needs, and facilitates coordination of item delivery to families.
• Northwoods RetreatsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerNorthwoods Retreat is an affiliate organization providing a retreat center for church training, foster parent training, and foster family retreats.
• Bank of MaustonminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBank of Mauston is a Community Champion partner that engaged staff in helping keep families together through CarePortal. Described as having a goal to help the community grow through this partnership.
• Envision Greater Fond du LacsupportingGTM or Marketing PartnerEconomic development organization partnering for ribbon cutting ceremony at Fond du Lac Community Network one-year celebration event.
• Yada Project (Hope Mobile)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerYada Project's Hope Mobile was the beneficiary of a donation drive at a Green Lake Network Gathering event, collecting body care items such as chapstick, lotion, body wash, and soap.
• Dane County AgenciescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDane County Health and Human Services and other child-serving agencies partner as requesting organizations that submit verified family needs through CarePortal to the Community Network.
• Fond du Lac County AgenciescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFond du Lac Health and Human Services and other agencies partner as requesting organizations submitting needs through CarePortal to the Fond du Lac Community Network.
• Church PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorChurches across Wisconsin form Response Teams that receive CarePortal alerts, coordinate item gathering, and deliver items directly to families in need. Multiple churches per county organize into Community Networks.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bethany Christian Services: Bethany provides faith-based foster care, adoption, and family preservation services through a network of local offices and church partnerships — comparable to FCW's mission of strengthening families at risk of child welfare involvement.
• Safe Families for Children: Safe Families for Children is a faith-based nonprofit that mobilizes volunteer host families and church networks to support families in crisis and prevent child welfare involvement — a directly analogous model to FCW's CarePortal-driven Community Networks.
• Together for Hope: A rural community development initiative mobilizing churches to address poverty and family hardship in underserved counties — directly analogous to FCW's county-by-county church-mobilization model.
• Buckner International: Buckner operates faith-based family services, foster care, and community programs that mobilize local churches to meet family needs — closely aligned with FCW's church-led Community Network approach.
• CarePortal: CarePortal is the technology platform that powers Family Connect's Community Networks. It directly enables the verified-need-to-responder matching workflow and is the core operational system for FCW and its affiliates.

Broad incumbents

• Catholic Charities USA: Catholic Charities operates a national network of parish and community-based family services, including counseling, emergency assistance, and adoption/foster programs — comparable in mission but much broader in scope than FCW.
• United Way Worldwide: United Way mobilizes corporate and individual donations to fund local human services through a community impact model — comparable donor-mobilization and community-coordination function, but at national scale and across many causes.
• Volunteers of America: VOA is a large faith-affiliated nonprofit providing a broad portfolio of family, housing, and child welfare services across the U.S. — overlapping with FCW's family-support mission at much greater scale.

Emerging players

• FaithBridge Foster Care Network: FaithBridge mobilizes churches to support foster families and prevent children from entering the child welfare system — closely aligned with FCW's family-strengthening and foster-care-adjacent mission.
• Elevate Families: Elevate Families connects families in crisis with churches and volunteers through a CarePortal-style care-sharing platform — a direct emerging peer operating in a different region.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/family-connect-wi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Family Connect of Wisconsin