Wisconsin · Nonprofit
SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC
SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,198,753 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,179,265). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.8M
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $6.9M
What Shepherds Ministries Inc does
Mission
Because people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have unrealized god given potential, shepherds college provides a tailored training environment for our students to discover and maximize that potential, so they are empowered to lead a fulfilling life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Shepherds college is the nation's leading, fully-accredited non-degree granting, post-secondary education program created with the learning needs of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in mind. Shepherds college believes that when students learn in an environment designed specifically for them, they will thrive, and offers three, immersive occupational majors. The college equips students to reach appropriate independence through the development of vocational, social and life skills. As a faith-based school, spiritual growth is encouraged through weekly chapel meetings, bible studies, attendance at local churches, and student-led prayer groups. (continued on scheduled o)the school pursues excellence in all its operations, evidenced by its exceptional faculty and staff, the new and recently updated student housing facilities, customized curriculum, and its investment in impacting the disability community through strategic leadership training. Operations are funded primarily from payment for tuition fees with contributions from shepherds foundation, inc.
$6,522,393 spentof which $1,055,544 as grants$5,774,337 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,522,393.
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 2018 to 2019, from $10M to $12M (+10%).
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 3% · 2022 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
26% of SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Jessica Braeger
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 12 funders, grant income fell $345k → $221k.
14 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $21M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Shepherds Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC raised.
From the IRS filings of SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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 MINISTRIES INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 MINISTRIES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 37% · 2019 77% · 2020 41% · 2021 32% · 2022 25% · 2023 23% — 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
41% of SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
51% of SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC'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 $1.6M that is directly attributable, 74% of it comes from funders outside Wisconsin, across 11 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M 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
SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $3.2M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $527k on record.
- Department of Education$527k
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 SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Shepherds Foundation Inc · exempt
- Charitable Remainder Trust (1) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES 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.
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 MINISTRIES INC?
- SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,198,753 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($1,179,265). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $3,198,753 in grants to SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,179,265 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SHEPHERDS MINISTRIES INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Ministries →
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 33 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