Who We Are

Our Mission

We help people launch projects that improve communities.

Our Belief

You matter. Your ideas and actions can change the world. Believe it. We do.

Our Vision

To reinvent a self-sustaining model of charity that inspires people to action for good.

How We Were Called to MATTER

When Minnesota business owners Dennis and Megan Doyle saw valuable corporate surplus being discarded, they took action. Using what was in their own two hands, warehouse space, they began to gather life-saving resources to put into the hands of people that could benefit, specifically people living in scarcity. It soon became their calling, and in 2002 they started Hope for the City.

They believed they mattered. They believed their ideas and actions could change the world. And they were right.

More than 20 years later, Hope for the City took on a new name—MATTER. Our mission is simple. We help people launch projects that improve communities. As an organization, we focus on leveraging some of Minnesota’s biggest resources: healthcare, education, beneficial food, and agriculture.

While not a faith-based organization, we refer to MATTER as “faith-inspired.” Our founders started the organization based on the inspiration they received from two Scriptural commands: to “take care of the least of these”, from Matthew 25; and to be good stewards of God’s creation and its abundant resources, as found in Genesis 2.

Since 2002, with the help of tens of thousands of donors, supporters, partners and volunteers, whom we affectionately refer to as MATTERnation, MATTER has distributed more than $772 million in restorative aid, impacting millions of lives around the world.

Our belief statement reflects the very DNA from which our organization was founded: You matter. Your ideas and actions can change the world. Believe it. We do.

Meet Our Staff

Our Founders

Our Board

  • Amanda Escen

    MATTER Board Chair
    Chief Operating Officer
    University of Minnesota Foundation Investment Advisors

  • Devin Doyle

    MATTER Board Treasurer
    President
    Wildamere Capital Management, LLC

  • Dr. Christopher Tashjian

    MATTER Board Secretary
    Partner
    Vibrant Health Family Clinics

  • Michael Ackmann

    Co-Founder & CEO
    Artisan Venture Lab

  • Casey Carl

    (Former) EVP and Chief Omni Strategy and Operations Officer
    Walmart

  • Jay Deverell

    President
    TCF Inventory Finance

  • Dan Fagan

    President & CEO
    Tradition Capital Bank

  • Pete Goddard

    CEO
    Deephaven Data Labs

  • Aaron Johnson

    Chief Executive Officer
    Twin Cities Orthopedics

  • Derrick Johnson

    Group Manager
    TCF/Huntington

  • Alyssa LaRue

    Vice President, Relationship Manager
    BMO Commercial Bank

  • Meg Martin

    VP, Senior Wealth & Fiduciary Advisor
    Bell Bank

  • Roger McCabe

    Co-Founder
    Roger and Nancy McCabe Foundation

  • Chipo Mtasa

    Managing Director
    Tel One Pvt. (Zimbabwe)

  • Shelly Nelson

    Vice President of Marketing
    Cambria

  • Mark Pletts

    Co-Chairman/Managing Partner
    Waypoint Capital Advisors

  • Steve Ryan

    Partner in Charge
    Taft, Stettinius & Hollister

  • Mike Tamte

    Executive Chairman
    EVEREVE

Financial Responsibility

MATTER is built upon a foundation of sound financial stewardship. We believe that to whom much is given, much is required. We apply this belief to every donation, large or small, and use it to create the highest level of financial accountability and transparency.

More than $772 million in resources distributed

$1 donated equals $24 in material aid

96 cents of every dollar donated goes to projects

you matter.