GiveBetter x Los Angeles

John Tracy Center

Pediatric audiology, communication support, family education and professional training

Research time: 10 min on GPT-6 Astra Light
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.

Updated: 2026-09-14

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Summary

What do they do? John Tracy Center provides pediatric audiology, communication support, preschool and family education, alongside worldwide and professional programs. Its local services can benefit Los Angeles and Orange County residents, but visitors and remote families cannot automatically be counted here. A finite judgment estimate links additional parent-coaching offers to communication-related wellbeing, with broad ranges and no lifetime or device-benefit shortcut.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • Specialist parent coaching offers a concrete pathway beyond awareness.

  • Original recent accounts allow a full-recipient gross cost comparison.

  • The external randomized evidence includes families using signs, avoiding an assumption that spoken language is the only valuable outcome.

Our main reservations:

  • No verified current count of additional eligible LA children enabled by ordinary funding.

  • Language scores and uncontrolled progress percentages are not QALYs.

  • Public education contracts, insurance, Early Start and substantial assets may substitute for new gifts.

What do you get for your dollar? $328.6M per better life: ten additional quality-adjusted life years in Los Angeles. Full recipient cost / parent-coaching communication-related health only; judgment estimate, not measured whole-portfolio return..

Additional eligible LA parent-coaching offers -> communication-score improvement relative to current alternatives -> finite preference-weighted health trajectory. Diagnostic appointments and uncontrolled progress percentages do not supply the missing steps.

1. What do they do?

This report covers John Tracy Clinic, EIN 95-1642393, doing business as John Tracy Center, rather than a restricted therapy program. Its current service portfolio includes audiology, speech and language support, counseling, preschool, parent education and graduate professional training. The parent-infant program describes weekly individual coaching and family-school support.

The LA edition counts residents of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. A local appointment is not proof of local residence: the worldwide program also serves remote families and international visitors. Training teachers can create benefits elsewhere. No headquarters-based geography percentage is imposed on the entire portfolio.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

The accessible 2023 newsletter reports 1,110 unique children in audiology over nine months, distinct from 1,307 appointments. This is historical diagnostic activity, not current parent-coaching enrollment, diagnoses newly detected, or children whose outcomes depend on added funding. Its reported progress percentages lack a contemporaneous comparison group.

The website's 2023–24 annual-report announcement linked to a page returning not found during review. A current eligible-child denominator could therefore not be verified. The useful next ledger would distinguish unique children by service, residence, baseline access, payer, diagnosis, offered support and follow-up, and identify the additional service capacity purchased by unrestricted funding.

3. Qualitative assessment

A 2025 randomized trial enrolled 96 parent-child dyads (94 were randomized) to six months of weekly telehealth parent-mediated communication support or control. The child-communication effect was 0.59 standard deviations immediately after treatment. Participants were 12–18 months old with bilateral hearing loss, no additional diagnoses and at least one hearing parent. Effects were stronger among children exposed to signs. This supports coaching, not a claim that spoken language is superior to signed language, nor an effect for every child receiving audiology.

The trial did not estimate preference-weighted health utility or lifetime persistence. A nine-year Australian cohort links language and quality of life, but is observational; its PedsQL outcomes are not QALYs. Implant or hearing-aid benefits cannot all be attributed to the center's incremental counseling. A health model must value communication access and family-chosen functioning, not assign lower value to Deaf identity.

The judgment central assumes100 annual trial-compatible offers, .25 funding responsiveness, .8 local residence and half the trial effect. These are not measured enrollment or response fractions. The100-offer assumption is a small subset of historical audiology scale and consistent with current weekly coaching, but could be substantially wrong. A normative utility bridge of .02 per communication-score SD values reduced distress and improved family-chosen functioning, not Deaf identity or preference for speech over sign. Benefits retain fractions1,.5,.25 over three years, then stop. Both this health conversion and persistence are explicit judgments rather than claims from the trial.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

FY2025 gross Form 990 expense is $6,479,214: Part IX $6,388,940 plus $90,274 of direct event costs netted in Part VIII. The comparable amounts are $5,818,364 for FY2024 and $5,348,346 for FY2023; their average is $5,881,974.67. All three returns use accrual accounting. No rental, gaming or inventory cost addback was reported. 2025 2024 2023

FY2025 Schedule D reconciles $6,283,680 audited-statement expense, minus $24,884 of fundraising adjustments and plus $130,144 investment expenses, to Part IX. No donated-service exclusion is recorded. The schedule's fundraising adjustment differs by $2 from the event loss shown in Part VIII; this is disclosed, not silently repaired. The chosen numerator is consistently gross Form 990 expense, not a claimed consolidated audit reconstruction.

At $1 million per 10 LA QALYs, this annual resource equivalent must produce 64.79214 net additional LA QALYs; at $100,000 it must produce 647.9214. If each genuinely additional LA child gained 0.1 discounted QALY, those thresholds require 647.9214 or 6,479.214 children respectively. The 0.1 is a threshold illustration, not a measured or best-estimate benefit. Medical devices, outside clinical services and family time remain additional social resources; reimbursements are not subtracted from full recipient cost.

The judgment parent-coaching central yields 0.197173 LA QALYs per $6,479,214 of full annual recipient cost, or approximately $328.61 million per10 LA QALYs. The implied donor-responsive local offers are100*.25*.8=20, with .295 transferred communication SD per offer and 1.670957 discounted retained years. No other diagnostic, device, preschool or caregiver health is added. Broad joint low/high cases, zero and harm reflect uncertainty rather than confidence limits.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Whole recipient gross accrual Form 990 resources, including event costs; no program-only or net-of-reimbursement denominator.

Each pathway needs LA and Orange County residence attribution. International visits and online users are not assumed local.

Q_LA=N*b*g*t*k*.59*A; A=sum(w_y/1.03^y). Central N=100,b=.25,g=.8,t=.5,k=.02,w=[1,.5,.25],C=6479214. Price10=10*C/Q_LA. This is the parent-coaching partial-health branch at full recipient cost; Qportfolio=Q_LA+Qother-H, other health unidentified.

C
6479214 USD annual gross recipient expense (observed). FY2025 Part IX plus direct event expenses. [99025]
d_comm
0.59 SD child communication effect immediately after randomized intervention (observed). External six-month parent-mediated intervention trial; not a local effect or health utility. [rct25]
N
100 eligible annual parent-coaching offers (judgment). Judgment of 100 potentially trial-compatible annual offers, about9% of historical1110 audiology children over9months. Not measured enrollment or inferred directly from all diagnostic visits; current weekly coaching at three campuses makes this order of magnitude plausible. Test25–250. [parent] [preschool] [99025]
b
0.25 incremental funding responsiveness (judgment). Judgment .25 marginal resource responsiveness after public funding, assets and other donors; test .05–.6 and zero. [parent] [preschool] [99025]
g
0.8 LA resident share (judgment). Judgment .8 LA/Orange residence among in-person coaching offers, not whole worldwide recipient; test .5–.95. [parent] [preschool] [99025]
t
0.5 clinical effect transfer (judgment). Judgment half the external communication effect after modality, population and usual-care differences; test .2–.8 and zero. [parent] [preschool] [99025]
k
0.02 utility per communication-score SD (judgment). Explicit normative health bridge: one communication-score SD corresponds to .02 utility for a year through reduced distress and improved family-chosen functioning. This is not an estimated psychometric conversion or lower value assigned to Deaf identity; test .005–.05 and zero. [rct25] [lochi25]
T
3 finite persistence years (judgment). Finite3years with rapid fading; neither RCT nor cohort establishes persistence. Test1–5years. [rct25] [lochi25]
w_y
[1,0.5,0.25] year-specific retained effect fraction (judgment). Retained effect1,.5,.25 across years1–3, then zero; subjective fading rather than lifetime extrapolation. [parent] [preschool] [99025]
Q_other_LA
null non-overlapping other LA QALYs (unknown). Not identified by reviewed sources; requires explicit measurement or justified judgment before pricing. [parent] [preschool] [99025]
H
null additional LA harm QALYs (unknown). Not identified by reviewed sources; requires explicit measurement or justified judgment before pricing. [parent] [preschool] [99025]

Judgment best estimate: parent-coaching communication health: Cost: $6.5M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0.19717294438592622; all-population QALYs: 0.24646618048240776. N=100; b=0.25; g=0.8; t=0.5; k=0.02; d_comm=.59; w=[1,0.5,0.25]; A=1.6709571558129341; 3% annual discount; no effects after year 3. Joint judgment scenario, not empirical confidence bounds.

Weak eligible volume, transfer and persistence: Cost: $6.5M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0.0003580097087378641; all-population QALYs: 0.0007160194174757282. N=25; b=0.05; g=0.5; t=0.2; k=0.005; d_comm=.59; w=[1]; A=0.970873786407767; 3% annual discount; no effects after year 1. Joint judgment scenario, not empirical confidence bounds.

Favorable eligible volume, transfer and persistence: Cost: $6.5M; Los Angeles QALYs: 10.962443942950859; all-population QALYs: 11.53941467679038. N=250; b=0.6; g=0.95; t=0.8; k=0.05; d_comm=.59; w=[1,1,0.75,0.5,0.25]; A=3.2597216601102765; 3% annual discount; no effects after year 5. Joint judgment scenario, not empirical confidence bounds.

Complete replacement or no incremental health: Cost: $6.5M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0; all-population QALYs: 0. b=0, Q_other_LA=0, H=0; this is a possible case, not the best estimate.

Illustrative adverse net effect: Cost: $6.5M; Los Angeles QALYs: -1; all-population QALYs: -1. One net LA QALY lost is an explicit stress test, not an empirical harm estimate.

Other recipient health unpriced: Cost: $6.5M; Los Angeles QALYs: unknown; all-population QALYs: unknown. No independent diagnostic, device, preschool, family or training health is added without a non-overlap model.

Counterfactual: Publicly funded education, Early Start, insurance, existing endowment support and other providers continue. The controlled trial effect must be transferred to this service and its actual alternative, not compared to permanent absence of language access.

Attribution: Count each unique child once. Do not credit implantation, hearing-aid provision, preschool and parent coaching with the same developmental gain. b reflects incremental resource response, while t reflects clinical transport; neither is an observed local estimate.

The central and broad range are subjective judgments anchored to actual service format, historical scale and an external randomized communication effect. Eligible volume and preference utility are not measured. Their uncertainty does not automatically erase a finite central. Zero, harm and unpriced other pathways are retained.

Sensitivity

  • Required net LA health is 64.79214 QALYs at $1m/10 or 647.9214 at $100k/10.
  • At assumed 0.1 discounted QALY per genuinely additional LA child, required additional children are 647.9214 or 6479.214. This is break-even arithmetic only.
  • Any finite positive course model must report its time horizon, utility mapping, public-service substitution and geography; indefinite lifetime multiplication is not supported.
  • Other family, diagnostic and professional-training value may be important. Leaving it unpriced does not set it to zero.

Unresolved inputs

  • Current unique eligible parent-coaching offers and LA residence, separate from all audiology visits.
  • Marginal unrestricted service capacity after public payment, reserves and replacement donors.
  • Preference-weighted utility change attributable to communication improvement and finite persistence.
  • Independent non-overlapping diagnostic, preschool, family and training pathways.

5. Funding and previous grants

The FY2025 return reports revenue of $7,476,166 and net assets of $44,510,062, including $43,100,349 without donor restrictions. Cash and savings total $2,284,951; net assets are not all spendable cash. Schedule R identifies a disregarded building entity, already within recipient reporting, rather than a second clinical benefit stream. Existing resources weaken an automatic claim that another gift immediately adds a course, but do not prove no funding need.

The preschool page explicitly describes LEA contracts and IEP placement. California Early Start provides evaluation and coordination without charge and uses insurance, regional centers and education agencies for needed services. Alternative publicly supported care belongs in the baseline. The center may improve quality, speed or accessibility relative to it; that difference must be measured rather than crediting all existing care to philanthropy.

The first donor-useful request is a concrete uncovered capacity proposal: marginal cost, eligible waiting children, payer alternatives, residence and expected communication or family-wellbeing gains. No current unrestricted gap was independently verified, and no outreach or donation was made.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $5.3M; John Tracy Clinic, EIN 95-1642393, 12-month period, August-ending accrual gross Form 990 expense: Part IX plus separately netted direct event costs.. Source
  • FY 2024: $5.8M; John Tracy Clinic, EIN 95-1642393, 12-month period, August-ending accrual gross Form 990 expense: Part IX plus separately netted direct event costs.. Source
  • FY 2025: $6.5M; John Tracy Clinic, EIN 95-1642393, 12-month period, August-ending accrual gross Form 990 expense: Part IX plus separately netted direct event costs.. Source

6. Sources

  1. FY2025 original Form 990, filed July 14, 2026. John Tracy Clinic / IRS. Published: 2026-07-14; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  2. FY2024 original Form 990, filed July 14, 2025. John Tracy Clinic / IRS. Published: 2025-07-14; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  3. FY2023 original Form 990, filed July 15, 2024. John Tracy Clinic / IRS. Published: 2024-07-15; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  4. FY2025 expense and endowment reconciliation. John Tracy Clinic / IRS. Published: 2026-07-14; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  5. FY2025 related entity disclosure. John Tracy Clinic / IRS. Published: 2026-07-14; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  6. Current service portfolio. John Tracy Center. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  7. Parent-infant services. John Tracy Center. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  8. Preschool and public contracting. John Tracy Center. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  9. Worldwide parent education. John Tracy Center. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  10. Summer 2023 newsletter: partial-year audiology activity. John Tracy Center. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  11. Early Communication Intervention for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Toddlers: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Jones and colleagues / Pediatrics. Published: 2025-06-01; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  12. Nine-year language and quality-of-life cohort. Ching and colleagues / Ear and Hearing. Published: 2025-03-10; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  13. What is Early Start?. California Department of Developmental Services. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  14. Annual report announcement; linked report unavailable during review. John Tracy Center. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.