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· Private foundation
THE SHEPPARD FOUNDATION
This foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications.
$1.1M
Granted FY2024
4
Grants
3
Communities
$850k
Largest
01What you fund
01
What you funded, over time
By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).
A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 90% of THE SHEPPARD FOUNDATION’s grantee dollars go to organizations outside the IRS cause taxonomy (common for large international and research funders), so a chart would be mostly “unclassified” and misrepresent the portfolio.
02beneath the categories
Past the labels — and the year it shifted
Beneath the NTEE codes, this is what the grant descriptions actually say.
…and in their own words, year by year
2018
—
2019
—
2020
—
2021
medical
2022
—
2023
ann frankfrank moreswade gracegrace gaojohn lynn
Words distinctive to each year’s grant purposes (TF-IDF) · event-driven terms in cyan.
03FY2024 · 4 grants
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $257k
- $250k+1 grant · $850k
$206,869
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
- THE JOHN & LYNN SHEPPARD FAMILY FD$850,191
- THE JOHN & LYNN SHEPPARD FAMILY FD$206,869
- AMERICAN RED CROSS$50,000
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH GEORG$10,000
02The need
04
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
show:
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 18% — the area typically sits at 5%. 100% of your dollars reach neighborhoods with above-average need. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA, United Way ALICE — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
03Your edge
repeat funding
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
90%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$4.0M · 19 repeat orgs$431k to everyone else
19 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Re-uppedFunded once
Organizations
19
5
Total granted
$4.0M
$421k
Still filing today
42%
0%
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.
RenewedFirst-time
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
EducationArts & CultureEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementHealthOther
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.
Backed again, and grew
- AHAMAGANSETT HISTORICAL ASSN7× · 2017–2023 · $320k · revenue +793% · 84% of their budget
- TTTHE TAFT SCHOOL7× · 2017–2023 · $282k · revenue +27%
- FHFISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION6× · 2017–2022 · $90k · revenue +32%
Funded once
- TATHE ANN & FRANK MORES FAMILY FUNDone grant, 2023 · $208k
- TWTHE WADE SHEPPARD & GRACE GAO-one grant, 2023 · $208k
- MIMONTEREY INST OF INTERNATIONAL STUDone grant, 2017 · $3k
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
04Your field
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
1
Hastings College
Hastings college is a private, co-education, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1882.
Education
2
Trustees of Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.
Education
3
Dunn School
The mission of the dunn school community is to educate the whole student to their fullest potential in preparation for a life of learning and leadership in society. the school accomplishes this mission by operating a 6-12th grade boarding…
Education
4
Western New York Maritime Charter School
Education of students
Education
5
Boston Architectural College
Founded 131 years ago, the boston architectural college is a recognized institution providing excellence in practice-integrated design education to members of diverse communities with students representing 35 countries. the bac offers…
—
6
Bryn Mawr College
Provide a rigorous education and encourage pursuit of knowledge as preparation for life and work.
Education
7
Duxbury Rural & Historical Society Inc
The duxbury rural and historical society, inc. is dedicated to the preservation of the historical and natural resources of duxbury, ma and its environment, and the encouragement of awareness and appreciation of the area's heritage and…
Arts & Culture
8
Regents of the Mercersburg College
Mercersburg academy is a student-centered school that allows students to define themselves through the establishment of meaningful relationships and exposure to a vast range of academic, extra-curricular, and co-curricular opportunities.…
Education
9
Nansemond Suffolk Academy Association
At nansemond-suffolk academy, students are engaged in personal growth, inspired to discover their passion and empowered to make a difference in the world.
Education
10
The Danvers Historical Society
Dedicated to preserving danvers history through programs, partnerships, and community impact.
Arts & Culture
11
The Oaks School
In an atmosphere of mutual respect and responsibility, the oaks school prepares students to meet the world with the combined wisdom of an intelligent mind, a skilled hand, and a compassionate heart.
Education
12
Masters School
The masters school celebrates active participation, deep understanding, and meaningful connection. a community of diverse individuals, we gather to learn, to strive, to dare, to do - to be a power for good in the world.
—
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Taft School Corporation and the most unlike its peers is National Outdoor Leadership School. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network
8 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.
1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since you first funded
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Other$4,019,304Education$312,000Arts & Culture$59,000Community Improvement$25,000Environment$20,000Health$7,000
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organisation THE SHEPPARD FOUNDATION funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.
2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.
05Through Plinth
Through Plinth
Your grantmaking, live and operational
This dossier was generated cold from public filings. In Plinth it’s a working system — every applicant assessed and every grant monitored. Here’s a taste, run on one of your grantees: AMAGANSETT HISTORICAL ASSN.
Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk
Financial management
low risk
~50 months of operating runway; revenue grew over 8 filed years.
Track record & reputation
low risk
8 years of Form 990 filings, still active; revenue up 8.9× since.
Legal standing
low risk
US 501(c)(3); EIN 116036242 on file with current IRS Form 990 filings.
Governance
Live in Plinth
Board composition & governance documents — verified live in Plinth from the applicant.
Compliance & sanctions
Live in Plinth
OFAC / UN sanctions screening — run live in Plinth at assessment.
Program capacity
Live in Plinth
Staffing, M&E and activity alignment — assessed live in Plinth from submitted proposals.
Live · Plinth’s real DD engine
Run the actual assessment on AMAGANSETT HISTORICAL ASSN, cold from public data.
Generated live from public IRS filings + open web sources by Plinth’s agentic engine. Shown as an illustration of the product, not a formal assessment.
Post-award monitoring · continuous checks
- On trackFinancial stability— Roughly 50 months of cash on hand.
- On trackSustained operations— Filing through 2025; revenue grew over the period.
- WatchReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 84% of their budget — load-bearing; a dependency Plinth would track.
- Awaiting reportEvidence of delivery— Plinth collects the grantee's own monitoring reports post-award.
What you see here is static and public. In Plinth it’s operational — the full six-pillar framework on every applicant (with their own documents + live registry and sanctions checks), monitoring dashboards on every award, custom board reports, and eligibility routing for intake.
Agentic due diligenceMonitoring dashboardsCustom board reportsEligibility routing
Preview generated from this grantee’s public IRS filings and independent reporting. Pillars marked “live in Plinth” require the applicant’s submitted documents. Shown as illustration, not a formal assessment.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPro
How do I get to The Sheppard Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Sheppard Foundation through people who sit on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the introduction across shared trustees and officers.
Every link is a documented governance overlap in public IRS 990 filings — not a personal network — and each hop carries its own confidence tier. Low-confidence or distant paths are held back rather than guessed.
More from the funding graph
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
Strange bedfellows
the named clusters of US funding
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines