Massachusetts · Nonprofit
SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION
SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 139 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,599,379 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,339,612). 92 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.5M
- Funders on record
- 139
- Grants received
- $20M
- Net assets
- $104M
What Sheriff's Meadow Foundation does
Mission
To conserve the natural, beautiful, rural landscape and character of martha's vineyard for present and future generations.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Sheriff's Meadow Foundation acquires land for the preservation, administration and maintenance of natural habitats for wildlife on martha's vineyard both for educational purposes and in the interests of conservation. During fiscal 2025, Sheriff's Meadow Foundation cared for 2,492 acres of conservation land, maintained approximately 22 miles of public trails, monitored conservation restrictions on 999 acres, monitored approximately 89 miles of boundaries, cared for habitat for rare plants and animals, conducted educational programs, and maintained the trailsmv mobile app.
$1,816,873 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,816,873.
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 $73M to $95M (+30%).
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 1% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Alan Rappaport
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 33 funders to 62 funders, grant income rose $239k → $2.6M.
24 of 139 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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 SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 139 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
SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
57% 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 SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 29% · 2019 23% · 2020 30% · 2021 38% · 2022 39% · 2023 26% — 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
47% of SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
56% of SHERIFF'S MEADOW 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 $8.6M that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 22 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M 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
SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.5M on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$1.3M
- (NN) INFRASTRUCTURE:$168k
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 SHERIFF'S MEADOW 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SHERIFF'S MEADOW 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 SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION?
- SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION (Massachusetts) receives grants from 139 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,599,379 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,339,612). 92 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 139 organizations giving $19,599,379 in grants to SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION, 92 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $4,339,612 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SHERIFF'S MEADOW FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Sheriff's Meadow →
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 139 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