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The Stephen and Barbara Sherwin Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Stephen and Barbara Sherwin Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$23k
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$66kFood & Nutrition$18kPublic Benefit$15kCivil Rights$8kArts & Culture$7kHuman Services$7kHousing & Shelter$4kPublic Safety & Disaster$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$312k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NORTH COUNTY FOOD BANK$3,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$3,000
SANDRA SHAPPELL TEACHER AT COLORADO EARLY COLLEGE$2,500
PROJECT SAY SOMETHING$2,000
GRANITE EDUCATION FOUNDATION$2,000
SO OTHERS MIGHT EAT$2,000
COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO$1,000
RAPTORS OF THE ROCKIES$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
GIRL SCOUTS HEART OF HUDSON$1,000
THE UTAH FOOD BANK$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
THE COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$1,000
LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY$100
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY21–23, $7k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 86% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MISERICORDIA HOME: $2k → 14%HOMEWARD ALLIANCE INC: $2k → 11%THE FAMILY CENTER LA FAMILIA: $1k → 11%HOMEWARD ALLIANCE INC: $1k → 11%THE ROAD HOME: $1k → 8%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
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.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
WA
MT
MN
IL
NY
OR
CA
UT
CO
VA
MD
AZ
DC
MS
AL
GA
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

35%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$37k · 6 repeat orgs$69k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
31

Total granted

$37k
$51k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+27%

Still filing today

100%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 22% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesFood & NutritionArts & CultureAnimalsCivil RightsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • GE
    Granite Education Foundation
    3× · 2022–2025 · $12k · revenue +112%
  • HA
    HOMEWARD ALLIANCE INC
    2× · 2021–2023 · $3k · revenue +24%
  • UF
    UTAH FOOD BANK
    2× · 2022–2025 · $2k · revenue +5%

Funded once

  • EU
    EQUALITY UTAH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $6k · revenue +13%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2024 · $5k
  • V
    VINDEKETgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +113%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
2
Elevations Credit Union

Together we create solutions for a better life.

—
3
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
4
Food Bank of the Rockies

Food bank of the rockies ignites the power of community to nourish people facing food insecurity.

Food & Nutrition
5
Colorado Center On Law and Policy

Colorado center on law and policy is an antipoverty organization advancing the rights of every coloradan.

Crime & Legal
6
Colorado Legal Services

To provide meaningful access to high quality, civil legal services in the pursuit of justice for as many low income persons and members of vulnerable populations throughout colorado as possible.

Crime & Legal
7
Sound Credit Union

A member owned cooperative providing financial services, including loans and share deposits to its members.

—
8
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
9
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

To effectively and efficiently mitigate risks to the reliability and security of the western interconnection's bulk power system.

Public Benefit
10
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
11
Colorado Gives Foundation

We connect people, ideas, and nonprofits to make good happen. our vision is that all of jeffco is thriving.

Philanthropy
12
Education Commission of the States

The mission of education commission of the states is to advocate for attaining educational excellence for all and to help state leaders identify, develop and implement public policy for education that addresses current and future needs of…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Equality Utah Foundation; the most unlike its peers is UpRoot Colorado. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

31 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 31 of the 50 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/31
Grantees still filing
21/31
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Kamas Valley Community Foundation: $30,000 · EducationKamas Valley Community FoundationGranite Education Foundation: $12,000 · EducationGranite Education FoundationPACE UNIVERSITY: $2,000 · Education+3 more: $3,000 · Education+3 moreIndividual grant recipient: $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $4,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSOME INC: $3,000 · OtherSOME INCSANDRA SHAPPELL TEACHER AT COLORADO EARLY COLLEGE: $2,500 · OtherSANDRA SHAPPELL TEACHER AT COLORADO …Individual grant recipient: $2,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUTAH FOOD BANK: $2,030 · OtherSALVATION ARMY: $1,500 · Other+25 more: $23,200 · Other+25 moreNational Coalition on Black Civic Partic: $15,000 · Public BenefitNational Coa…VINDEKET: $5,000 · Food & NutritionVINDEKETNORTH COUNTY FOOD BANK: $3,000 · Food & NutritionNORTH COUN…The Food Bank for Larimer County: $2,000 · Food & NutritionThe Food B…UpRoot Colorado: $2,000 · Food & NutritionUpRoot Col…EQUALITY UTAH FOUNDATION: $6,000 · Civil RightsProject Say Something: $2,000 · Civil RightsHOMEWARD ALLIANCE INC: $3,000 · Human ServicesMISERICORDIA HOME: $2,000 · Human ServicesTHE FAMILY CENTERLA FAMILIA: $1,000 · Human ServicesTHE ROAD HOME: $1,000 · Human ServicesWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $3,000 · International
Education$47,000Other$43,730Public Benefit$15,000Food & Nutrition$12,000Civil Rights$8,000Human Services$7,000International$3,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKamas Valley Community Foundation: $30,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetNational Coalition on Black Civic Partic: $15,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGranite Education Foundation: $12,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetEQUALITY UTAH FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetVINDEKET: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHOMEWARD ALLIANCE INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSOME INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH COUNTY FOOD BANK: $3,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUTAH FOOD BANK: $2,030 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Food Bank for Larimer County: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMISERICORDIA HOME: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPACE UNIVERSITY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUpRoot Colorado: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNew England College: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAPTORS OF THE ROCKIES: $1,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC BROADCASTING OF COLORADO INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFLORIDA WEST COAST PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHONOR THE EARTH: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE HOUSE NORTHERN COLORADO: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLANDON SCHOOL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FAMILY CENTERLA FAMILIA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MORTON ARBORETUM: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWashington Studio School: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ROAD HOME: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOUSE OF RUTH: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GENTLE BARN FOUNDATION: $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Colorado Gives Founda…Community Foundation …Verizon FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…American Endowment Fo…American Online Givin…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Colorado Gives FoundationCO14.4× affinity5 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Colorado Gives Foundation · Community Foundation of Northern Colorado · Verizon Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Stephen and Barbara Sherwin Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Stephen and Barbara Sherwin Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 50 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Stephen and Barbara Sherwin’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home