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Missouri · Nonprofit

THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS

THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS (Missouri) receives grants from 161 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,847,254 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS GUNS N HOSES BOXING ASSOCIATION ($4,873,341). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$8.6M
Funders on record
161
Grants received
$12M
Net assets
$74M
95/161 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 26%
01What it does

What The Backstoppers Inc Fka Policemen & Firemen Fund of St Louis does

Mission

The mission of the backstoppers is to ensure stability and quality of life for the families of police officers, firefighters and publicly-funded paramedics and emts killed in the line of duty or suffering a catastrophic injury in a defined coverage area in missouri and illinois by providing financial and emotional support. In this way, the backstoppers and our members honor those who give their lives protecting our communities.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Financial assistance provided to spouses and children of eligible policemen, firemen, & publicly-funded paramedics and emts who have lost their lives or experienced a catastrophic injury in the line of duty.

    $3,289,390 spentof which $2,952,147 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,289,390.

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($5.1M) Expenses 100 ($2.6M) Net assets 100 ($29M)2018 Revenue 116 ($5.9M) Expenses 121 ($3.1M) Net assets 104 ($31M)2019 Revenue 112 ($5.8M) Expenses 140 ($3.7M) Net assets 129 ($38M)2020 Revenue 113 ($5.8M) Expenses 149 ($3.9M) Net assets 155 ($46M)2021 Revenue 208 ($11M) Expenses 145 ($3.8M) Net assets 198 ($58M)2022 Revenue 155 ($7.9M) Expenses 171 ($4.5M) Net assets 186 ($55M)2023 Revenue 171 ($8.8M) Expenses 174 ($4.5M) Net assets 223 ($66M)2024 Revenue 168 ($8.6M) Expenses 203 ($5.3M) Net assets 251 ($74M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (168)Expenses (203)Net assets (251)

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 $46M to $58M (+28%).

$29M
$31M
$38M
$46M
$58M
$55M
$66M
$74M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$2.5M
’17
$2.8M
’18
$2.1M
’19
$1.9M
’20
$6.9M
’21
$3.5M
’22
$4.3M
’23
$3.3M
’24
1.4
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2628283031293031
Joined·+2+1+2+1+0+3+3
No longer listed·0100222
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 73 funders, grant income rose $415k → $2.2M.

24 of 161 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 161 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

THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 57%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

75% 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 BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS.

41%
largest funder
57%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 17% · 2019 18% · 2020 50% · 2021 11% · 2022 50% · 2023 37% — 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

53% of THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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

90% of THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS's grant income comes from Missouri funders.

VT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
SD
OH
PA
CA
MO
VA
DE
AZ
KS
TN
NC
OK
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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

Organizations like THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS

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 Missouri

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

71% of spending goes to programs.

Program 71%Management 17%Fundraising 12%

Governance

27
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

74%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS: 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 THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS?
THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS (Missouri) receives grants from 161 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,847,254 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS GUNS N HOSES BOXING ASSOCIATION ($4,873,341). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS have?
IRS filings report 161 organizations giving $11,847,254 in grants to THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS, 95 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS?
ST LOUIS GUNS N HOSES BOXING ASSOCIATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,873,341 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 161 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