Wyoming · Nonprofit
MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION
MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION (Wyoming) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,790,062 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($325,454). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 65
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $999k
What Matthew Shepard Foundation does
Mission
To erase hate by replacing it with understanding, compassion and acceptance and to educate and enlighten others on the importance of diversity, understanding, compassion, acceptance, and respect. The foundation works to support the teaching and use of artistic and literary works that illustrate the importance of equality and inclusivity and the role of individuals in countering hatred and bias; strives to prevent similar tragedies by providing a victim's perspective in the local and national training of peace ocers, prosecutors, and the public on hate crime prevention, enforcement, and reporting; and provides an online community for lgbtq+ and allied youth to use their voices to demonstrate their authentic lived experiences through stories and resources designed to serve their needs and interests.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public outreach - matthew's legacy is highlighted through multiple artistic works inspired by his story, including "the laramie project", "considering matthew shepard and "matt shepard is a friend of mine". Msf helps to support the numerous performances and productions around the world by offering 2 cards & letters lobby exhibit options, a poster of the iconography artwork of matt housed at the washington national cathedral in washington, d.c., as well as supplying our purple "erase hate" wristbands for the cast, singers and crew. Beyond providing the above resources, we share digitized resources of photos, news articles, historical context and supporting documents.resource package count: 58areas served: washington dc, wisconsin, colorado, iowa, newjersey, rhode island, pennsylvania, maine, florida, virginia, newyork, north carolina, ohio, california, oregon, washington,maryland, indiana, new hampshire, massachusetts, nevada,illinois, georgia, texas, west virginia, michigan, tasmania (aus),nova scotia (can), ontario (can), alberta (can), new zealandas part of our legacy works resource packages, we offer schools, theaters and choirs the ability to have cast/choir chats with dennis…
$798,734 spentof which $23,631 as grants$42,874 earned by the program87% of program spendingResources - social media and webpagemedia outreach on civil rights, equality legislation, lgbtq+ news and information, and programmatic offerings.matthewshepard.org: 320k visitors annually, with an average of 27k a monthsocial media platforms (facebook, instagram, threads, x, tiktok): 215k combined followersresources - matthew's placematthew's place is an online community designed to provide support to lgbtq+ youth and allies ages 13-24. The site offers stories, written by youth, and resources designed to serve their needs and interests, dealing with bias, advocacy, self-care, resources and more. Lgbtq+ lives are amplified through articles about education, entertainment, community and activism through a queer lens. Guest writers also contribute to focused themes, such as politics and education.annuals visitors to site: 74,579average viewership per month: 6215regular contributor articles: 185guest contributor articles: 15number of youth contributing writers: 17number of guest writers: 15
$117,632 spent13% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $916,366.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $525k to $873k (+66%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
110% of MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Judy Shepard
Chair/president
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $35k → $199k.
16 of 65 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 65 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
85% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 27% · 2019 28% · 2020 23% · 2021 26% · 2022 36% · 2023 13% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
28% of MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
73% of MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $487k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Wyoming, across 22 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION's revenue grew 51% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $46k on record.
- (HH) CONSULTANT SVCS (TO DEPTS)$46k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Wyoming
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 26 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION?
- MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION (Wyoming) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,790,062 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($325,454). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 65 organizations giving $1,790,062 in grants to MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION?
- CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $325,454 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wyoming. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 65 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing