Texas · Nonprofit
RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE
RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $255,926 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($104,920). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $298k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $256k
- Net assets
- $132k
What Rays of Light Where Special Children Shine does
Mission
Rays of light is dedicated to providing free, quality respite care to families with children with special needs and their siblings in the dallas metropolitan area. Together with our volunteers, we strive to provide support and relief to the families through our respite care program called night lights. Rays of light educates and informs the local community about the needs and achievements of special children.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Together with our dedicated, compassionate volunteers, rays of light creates a unique evening for the children on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fridays of every month (excluding january and july) from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. On the campus of lovers lane umc, on the 1st friday at white rock united methodist and on the 3rd friday a spanish-speaking outreach site at christ foundry methodist mission. For families with a child with special needs, it is constant: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It puts such a strain physically, emotionally and financially. Night lights gives the parents the opportunity to have four free hours and the children get four hours of socialization and interaction with their volunteers and peers. Giving the parents time, even if only once a month, can transform families. And with one on one volunteer relationship with our special kids, it is a time for that child to shine
$187,609 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $187,609.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $314k to $160k (−49%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 5 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.
Chief executive
Dr Stan Copeland
CEO/director
Board chair
Tom Rachal
Chairman/dir
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income fell $26k → $19k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 61% · 2018 37% · 2019 28% · 2020 46% · 2021 36% · 2022 82% · 2023 52% — 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.
Where its funders are
81% of RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $110k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Organizations like RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Lovers Lane United Methodist Church · exempt
- Lovers Lane Umc Foundation · exempt
- Seeds · exempt
- Twelfth Step Ministry Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE: 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 RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE?
- RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE (Texas) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $255,926 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($104,920). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $255,926 in grants to RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE?
- COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC is the largest funder on record, with $104,920 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RAYS OF LIGHT WHERE SPECIAL CHILDREN SHINE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Rays of Light Where Special Children Shine →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 7 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