The Hood Shepherd
The Hood Shepherd is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Every guide in the library is free, and stays free.

Free to read. Paid for by people who give.

Anyone can type an address, meet the neighborhood behind it and read the whole field guide without paying. Monthly sponsors keep the servers on. Churches that want the reader on their own website pay a small subscription for it.

For anyone

Reader

$0 always

Type a street address and get the field guide written for that block.

  • All thirty neighborhood field guides
  • Read my block for any street address
  • No account, no paywall, no ads
Read my block
For anyone who wants it to stay free

Monthly sponsor

$25 a month, suggested

It costs $800 a month to keep every field guide and report online. 32 people giving $25 a month cover it.

  • Any amount; the suggestion is only a suggestion
  • Tax deductible as the law allows
  • Change it or stop it any time in Church Center
Give monthly

On the Church Center form, choose Monthly.

For churches

Neighborhood reader

$19 a month

The reader on your church’s website or Subsplash app, with your name on it.

  • Your church’s name, colors and frame
  • A website embed, a Subsplash app link, or both
  • Every request: name, email, town, neighborhood type
  • A note to your inbox for each one, and a spreadsheet
  • Cancel any time
Set it up

Or onceAny amount, one time, to the work as a whole. Give once through Church Center →

2027 guideFive minutes on the mission, the roadmap and what your giving builds. Read the partnership guide →

For churches: the neighborhood reader

A subscription, not a gift

Your website, your name on it, our field guides behind it.

Put What’s my neighborhood? on your church’s website.

Someone in your church types their street address. They meet the neighborhood type their block reads as and get the full field guide for it: who lives there, what they carry, what to say and what to do first. You see who asked, so you can walk it with them.

  1. Your sitePaste two lines into any page that takes HTML, including a Code block on a Subsplash site. Or link to its own page from your Subsplash app.
  2. Their guideThe form tells them, before they send it, what your church will see. The Hood Shepherd emails them the guide and nothing else.
  3. Your listEach request comes to your page, and to your inbox if you like: a name, an email, a town and a neighborhood type. Never a street address.
What the form tells them

What Grace Church will see: Your name, your email, your town and your neighborhood type. Not your street address. The Hood Shepherd emails you the guide and nothing else.

Light, dark or matched to the visitor’s phone; your church’s color; a frame or none. You set it on your page and the code follows.

Questions worth answering

If yours is not here, write to Aaron.

Is the field guide really free?

Yes. Every guide in the library, and the guide for any address you type, is free to read with no account. It stays free because people give, not because a paid tier is coming.

Where does a monthly gift go?

To keeping the servers on: the hosting, data and email services behind every guide and report. The figure on this page is the real monthly bill.

Is my gift tax deductible?

The Hood Shepherd is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so gifts through Church Center are deductible as the law allows. The neighborhood reader is a purchase, not a gift, so its subscription is not.

What does a church see when someone uses its reader?

Their name, email, town and neighborhood type, and nothing more. Never the street address. The form tells them this before they send anything, and The Hood Shepherd emails them the guide and nothing else.

Does it work with Subsplash?

Yes. On a Subsplash website, paste the embed code into a Code block. In a Subsplash app, add a link item that opens the reader's own page, which is made for phones. Your church's page has both, with steps.

What happens if we cancel?

The reader on your site stops naming your church and shows a plain link to The Hood Shepherd instead, and new requests stop coming to you. Restart any time and the code already on your site works again.

Our budget is tight. Is there another way?

Write to Aaron at aaron@thehoodshepherd.com. If the price is what stands between your church and its neighbors, we would rather talk than lose you.