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Connecticut · Nonprofit

SHEPHERDS INC

SHEPHERDS INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,369,006 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($479,625). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$696k
Funders on record
55
Grants received
$2.4M
Net assets
$852k
35/55 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 55%
01What it does

What Shepherds Inc does

Mission

Shepherds' three part program provides financial support for students to attend a private, college preparatory high school in their local community, trains and coaches adult volunteers to mentor each of these students on a one-on-one basis, and organizes numerous events and workshops to introduce academic and career opportunities to the students.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. 2024-2025 accomplishments: raised sufficient funds to provide financial support for 64 students to attend three private, college preparatory high schools, one in bridgeport, ct, one in milford, ct and the other in west haven, ct. 12 shepherds students graduated from their high schools and had multiple college acceptances with sufficient scholarships and financial aid to attend the college of their choice. Recruited and trained 20 new adult mentors and coached 64 mentors in their role. Provided extensive academic, college prep, and social and life skills workshops to students throughout the year, including college tours, sporting events and community service activities.

    $621,203 spentof which $305,606 as grants$15,280 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $621,203.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($569k) Expenses 100 ($582k) Net assets 100 ($203k)2018 Revenue 104 ($594k) Expenses 102 ($593k) Net assets 100 ($204k)2019 Revenue 179 ($1.0M) Expenses 112 ($654k) Net assets 283 ($574k)2020 Revenue 85 ($484k) Expenses 111 ($647k) Net assets 202 ($409k)2022 Revenue 119 ($675k) Expenses 99 ($575k) Net assets 253 ($513k)2023 Revenue 110 ($624k) Expenses 113 ($657k) Net assets 239 ($484k)2024 Revenue 203 ($1.2M) Expenses 130 ($757k) Net assets 438 ($889k)2025 Revenue 122 ($696k) Expenses 126 ($735k) Net assets 419 ($852k)
'17'18'19'20'22'23'24'25
Revenue (122)Expenses (126)Net assets (419)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 2018 to 2019, from $213k to $587k (+175%).

$212k
$213k
$587k
$464k
$519k
$599k
$900k
$863k
'17'18'19'20'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

93% of SHEPHERDS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 25,057 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$13k
’17
$933
’18
$364k
’19
−$163k
’20
$101k
’22
−$33k
’23
$398k
’24
−$38k
’25
6.1
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.

Chief executive

Timothy Magee

Executive director

Board chair

Lisette Currier Martinez

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'22'23'24'25
Listed1112141314151614
Joined·+1+3+0·+1+1+2
No longer listed·011·004
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $133k → $337k.

14 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 SHEPHERDS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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

SHEPHERDS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left

56% 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 SHEPHERDS INC.

20%
largest funder
35%
top three
~14
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 15% · 2019 23% · 2020 18% · 2021 25% · 2022 32% · 2023 28% — growing more concentrated.

“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

75% of SHEPHERDS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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

SHEPHERDS INC draws 63% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 11 states in all.

NY
WY
IA
IN
PA
NJ
CT
KY
DE
NC
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $986k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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

SHEPHERDS INC's funding base is broadening — from 13 funders to 30 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−6% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve6.1mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,450 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like SHEPHERDS INC

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 Connecticut

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

85% of spending goes to programs.

Program 85%Management 5%Fundraising 11%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

98%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CT

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SHEPHERDS INC: 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.

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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 SHEPHERDS INC?
SHEPHERDS INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,369,006 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($479,625). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does SHEPHERDS INC have?
IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $2,369,006 in grants to SHEPHERDS INC, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SHEPHERDS INC?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $479,625 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SHEPHERDS INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Shepherds →

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 55 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