Skip to content
Caroline Alexander Buck Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Caroline Alexander Buck Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$792k
Granted FY2025still arriving
47
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Education$1.9MYouth Development$1.0MHuman Services$552kArts & Culture$328kHousing & Shelter$325kHealth$320kRecreation & Sports$105kEmployment$75kOther$0
02FY2025 · 47 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $28k
  • $10k–50k32 grants · $588k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $175k
$15,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$7.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BIG PICTURE PHILADELPHIA$100,000
INN DWELLING INC$75,000
HOLY CHILD ACADEMY$30,000
PROVIDENCE CENTER$25,000
THORNCROFT EQUESTRIAN CENTER$25,000
ST JAMES SCHOOL$25,000
NORTHERN CHILDREN'S SERVICES$25,000
WELL ROOTED$25,000
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD$25,000
CCSA FOUNDATION$25,000
GATEWAY HORSEWORKS$25,000
NEED IN DEED$25,000
THE MONKEY & THE ELEPHANT$25,000
FAB YOUTH PHILLY$20,000
CENTRO NUEVA CREATION$20,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $775k) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 90% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%THE LIGHTHOUSE: $25k → 11%BUCKS COUNTY OPPORTUNITY COUNCIL: $10k → 6%MOM'S HOUSE INC OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $15k → 16%WESTSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $8k → 6%GEMMA SERVICES: $8k → 7%CHESTER EASTSIDE: $25k → 10%DRUEDING CENTER: $25k → 22%JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $25k → 7%BRIDGE ACADEMY AND COMMUNITY CENTER: $15k → 6%WELL ROOTED: $25k → 10%SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $25k → 22%OXFORD AREA NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES CENTER: $15k → 6%PROJECT HOME: $100k → 22%PROJECT HOME: $100k → 22%PROJECT HOME: $50k → 22%PROJECT HOME: $50k → 22%MERCY NEIGHBORHOOD MINISTRIES: $30k → 22%GIRLS JUSTICE LEAGUE: $20k → 22%FACE TO FACE: $20k → 22%ENVISION SUCCESS: $25k → 22%FAMILY PROMISE OF PHILADELPHIA: $25k → 22%NORTHERN CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $25k → 22%CONNECTEDLY: $30k → 22%SUPPORTIVE OLDER WOMANS NETWORK: $20k → 22%FEAST OF JUSTICE: $35k → 22%THE EDUCATION CULTURE OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 22%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

58%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 20 repeat orgs$2.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +43% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 29 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
55

Total granted

$2.9M
$1.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+7%

Still filing today

90%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 37% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $495k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureCrime & LegalHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • BP
    BIG PICTURE PHILADELPHIA
    4× · 2019–2025 · $400k · revenue +43%
  • PH
    PROJECT HOME
    4× · 2019–2023 · $300k · revenue +13%
  • ID
    INN DWELLING INC
    4× · 2020–2025 · $270k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • E2
    Elevate 215
    one grant, 2019 · $100k · revenue -48%
  • RA
    READING ALLOWEDgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue +79%
  • SM
    SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIAgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +33%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Friends of the Children - Philadelphia

Friends of the children philadelphia has a mission of impacting generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships and professional mentors 12+ years, no matter what. 92% go on to enroll in…

Education
2
Multicultural Academy Charter School

It is the mission of the multicultural academy charter school to educate the whole child by providing a safe environment where students can learn and teachers can instruct while emphasizing the importance of parental involvement in the…

Education
3
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
4
Natural Creativity

To help young people and their families enhance their innate ability to think flexibly and meet challenges creatively.

Youth Development
5
Educating Communities for Parenting Inc

Using the parent-child model ecp increases the potential for developing life-long positive relationship.

Human Services
6
Philadelphia Youth for Change Charter School Inc

To empower young adults (17-20 year-olds) to develop skills and connect to opportunities by fostering an environment of love, support, and respect for their whole person. students graduate high school and successfully transition to college…

Education
7
Horizons Greater Philadelphia Inc

Horizons Greater Philadelphia advances educational equity by building long-term partnerships with students, families, communities, and schools to create experiences outside of school that inspire the joy of learning.

—
8
Urban Pathways K-5 College Charter

A charter school for k-5 whose mission is to help every child find a pathway to a successful adult life in the city and beyond.

Education
9
Philadelphia Reads Inc

The mission of philadelphia reads is to build a "city of readers" by providing "in and "out of school time" programs that strengthen the literacy skills of philadelphia school children so they will be able to read at or above grade level…

—
10
Philadelphia Electrical & Technology Cha

The mission of the philadelphia electrical and technology charter high school is to develop students who will be employable in the emeraging high-tech industries; while giving students a strong foundation in the core academic…

Education
11
Children First Pa

Summary

Human Services
12
Hope Partnership for Education

Hope partnership for education's mission is empowerment through education. hpe serves families in eastern north philadelphia through its education center, which houses an independent middle school, grades 5 - 8, an after- school enrichment…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mercy Neighborhood Ministries Inc; the most unlike its peers is ECLOSE Institute. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

82 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 82 of the 105 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
82/82
Grantees still filing
44/82
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BIG PICTURE PHILADELPHIA: $400,000 · EducationBIG PICTURE PHILADELPHIAA BOOK A DAY: $225,000 · EducationA BOOK A DAYJUBILEE SCHOOL: $131,618 · EducationJUBILEE SCHOOLTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $120,000 · EducationTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITYHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA: $110,000 · EducationHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIAElevate 215: $100,000 · EducationElevate 215READING ALLOWED: $100,000 · EducationREADING ALLOWEDTREE HOUSE BOOKS: $70,000 · Education+16 more: $363,100 · Education+16 moreST JAMES SCHOOL: $425,000 · OtherST JAMES SCHOOLINN DWELLING INC: $270,000 · OtherINN DWELLING INCIndividual grant recipient: $75,000 · OtherLUTHERAN SETTLEMENT HOUSE: $50,000 · OtherCHURCH OF THE ADVOCATEMIGHTY WRITERS: $50,000 · OtherYOUTH MENTORSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP: $50,000 · Other+29 more: $555,163 · Other+29 morePROJECT HOME: $300,000 · Human ServicesPROJECT HOMECONNECTEDLY: $50,000 · Human ServicesCONNECTEDLYFEAST OF JUSTICE: $35,000 · Human ServicesMERCY NEIGHBORHOOD MINISTRIES INC: $30,000 · Human Services+18 more: $360,000 · Human Services+18 moreYOUTH EMPOWERMENT FOR ADVANCEMENT HANGOUT: $100,000 · Youth DevelopmentSTUDENTS RUN PHILLY STYLE: $45,000 · Youth DevelopmentFEDERATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS: $37,000 · Youth DevelopmentLUCY OUTREACH A NJ NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $30,000 · Youth DevelopmentNEED IN DEED: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentPolice Athletic League Of Philadelphia: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE PARKESBURG POINT: $20,000 · Youth DevelopmentCAMP JAMISON CORPORATION: $15,000 · Youth Development+5 more: $45,000 · Youth DevelopmentSETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA: $100,000 · Arts & CulturePLAY ON PHILLY: $75,000 · Arts & CultureTHE UNSCRIPTED PROJECT: $37,500 · Arts & CulturePHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS ADVOCATES INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureART SPHERE INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureGATEWAY HORSEWORKS: $200,000 · HealthCOMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE: $25,000 · HealthSankofa Healing Studio: $20,000 · HealthCOLLECTIVE CLIMB: $200,000 · Crime & LegalPHILADELPHIA CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $20,000 · Crime & LegalSupport Center for Child Advocates: $10,000 · Crime & Legal
Education$1,619,718Other$1,475,163Human Services$775,000Youth Development$342,000Arts & Culture$257,500Health$245,000Crime & Legal$230,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBIG PICTURE PHILADELPHIA: $400,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetPROJECT HOME: $300,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetINN DWELLING INC: $270,000 over 4y, 17% of budgetA BOOK A DAY: $225,000 over 3y, 63% of budgetGATEWAY HORSEWORKS: $200,000 over 4y, 27% of budgetCOLLECTIVE CLIMB: $200,000 over 2y, 20% of budgetJUBILEE SCHOOL: $131,618 over 7y, 3.8% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $120,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA: $110,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetElevate 215: $100,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetREADING ALLOWED: $100,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetSETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA: $100,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetYOUTH EMPOWERMENT FOR ADVANCEMENT HANGOUT: $100,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetPLAY ON PHILLY: $75,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetTREE HOUSE BOOKS: $70,000 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP SCHOOL: $50,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCONNECTEDLY: $50,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetSTUDENTS RUN PHILLY STYLE: $45,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetPROVIDENCE CENTER: $45,000 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetMINDFULNESS THROUGH MOVEMENT INC: $40,600 over 2y, 63% of budgetAdoption Center: $40,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetTHE UNSCRIPTED PROJECT: $37,500 over 1y, 21% of budgetFEDERATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS: $37,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetFEAST OF JUSTICE: $35,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetMERCY NEIGHBORHOOD MINISTRIES INC: $30,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetLUCY OUTREACH A NJ NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $30,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBRIGHTER HORIZON FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetCHESTER EASTSIDE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetXIENTE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJEWISH RELIEF AGENCY: $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetWELL ROOTED: $25,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetFAMILY PROMISE OF PHILADELPHIA: $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetCOMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOOK TRUST: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetEDUCATION CULTURE OPPORTUNITIES FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetCHESTER CHARTER SCHOLARS ACADEMY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEED IN DEED: $25,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetSOUTHWEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COR: $25,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS ADVOCATES INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDRUEDING CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPolice Athletic League Of Philadelphia: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMIGHTY WRITERS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetEducation Law Center - PA: $25,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetCCSA FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNorthern Children's Services: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetART SPHERE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetGIRLS ON THE RUN PHILADELPHIA: $20,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetGIRLS JUSTICE LEAGUE: $20,000 over 1y, 10% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Philadelphia Foun…Connelly FoundationThe William Penn Foun…Henry Dolfinger 2 Tru…Henrietta Tower Wurts…The Patricia Kind Fam…The Gordon Charter Fo…United Way of Greater…Adam and Maria Sarah …Lindback Cr & Mf Foun…The Leo and Peggy Pie…The Allen Hilles Fund
The Philadelphia FoundationPA87.5× affinity49 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Philadelphia Foundation · Connelly Foundation · The William Penn Foundation · Henry Dolfinger 2 Trust Uw · Henrietta Tower Wurts Memorial Foundation · The Patricia Kind Family Foundation · The Gordon Charter Foundation · United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey · Adam and Maria Sarah Seybert Institution for Poor Boys and Girls · Lindback Cr & Mf Foundation Tw Main · The Leo and Peggy Pierce Family Foundation Inc · The Allen Hilles Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Caroline Alexander Buck Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Caroline Alexander Buck Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    29report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Caroline Alexander Buck Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Caroline Alexander Buck Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 105 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Caroline Alexander Buck’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home