Who We Are

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.