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Maryland · Nonprofit

THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD

THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD (Maryland) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,358,988 to it, the largest being CLARK CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC DBA A JAMES & ALICE B CLARK FOUNDATION ($400,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.1M
Funders on record
21
Grants received
$1.4M
Net assets
$2.1M
15/21 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 42%
01What it does

What The Shepherd Foundation Ltd does

Mission

Tuition assistance for catholic high school and grade school students who require financial aid.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Tuition assistance for catholic high school and grade school students who require financial aid.

    $652,430 spentof which $652,430 as grants$1,960 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $652,430.

02The organization over time

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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($527k) Expenses 100 ($708k) Net assets 100 ($699k)2021 Revenue 106 ($560k) Expenses 89 ($633k) Net assets 89 ($625k)2022 Revenue 112 ($589k) Expenses 96 ($681k) Net assets 76 ($533k)2023 Revenue 90 ($474k) Expenses 63 ($443k) Net assets 81 ($564k)2024 Revenue 202 ($1.1M) Expenses 149 ($1.1M) Net assets 222 ($1.6M)2025 Revenue 205 ($1.1M) Expenses 95 ($675k) Net assets 296 ($2.1M)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (205)Expenses (95)Net assets (296)Peer revenue range

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 $564k to $1.6M (+175%).

$699k
$625k
$533k
$564k
$1.6M
$2.1M
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

90% of THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,814 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$181k
’20
−$74k
’21
−$92k
’22
$31k
’23
$7k
’24
$405k
’25
6.2
months of
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.

202020212022202320242025
Listed141414141519
Joined·+0+0+0+2+8
No longer listed·00014
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $74k → $198k.

7 of 21 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 THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD’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

THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

43% 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 THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD.

29%
largest funder
56%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 41% · 2019 36% · 2020 46% · 2021 64% · 2022 63% · 2023 50% — broadly stable.

“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

46% of THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

59% of THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD's grant income comes from Maryland funders.

IL
MI
NY
OH
PA
CA
MD
DE
NC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maryland out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $591k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 7,349 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin38% · top quartile
Months of reserve6.2mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)15% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,349 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD

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 Maryland

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

97% of spending goes to programs.

Program 97%Management 3%Fundraising 0%

Governance

20
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

97%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MD

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD?
THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD (Maryland) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,358,988 to it, the largest being CLARK CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC DBA A JAMES & ALICE B CLARK FOUNDATION ($400,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD have?
IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,358,988 in grants to THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD?
CLARK CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC DBA A JAMES & ALICE B CLARK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE SHEPHERD FOUNDATION LTD find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 21 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing