Skip to content
Circle Venture Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Circle Venture Inc

Please see attached

$406k
Granted FY2025still arriving
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Religion$422kHuman Services$216kHousing & Shelter$100kYouth Development$97kFood & Nutrition$35kArts & Culture$30kEducation$21kHealth$5k
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 14 grants below total $259,483, the rows itemized in this filing. The $406,110 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $146,627 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $154k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Simplehomes Fuller Center$100,000
The Peoples Kitchen$25,000
Norris Square Neighborhood Project$20,000
Lutheran Settlement House$18,000
The Simpleway$10,635
Beyond the Bars$10,204
Painted Bride Art Center$10,000
Yes AndCollaborative Arts$10,000
Timoteo$10,000
Attic Youth Center$10,000
Community Peacemaker Teams$10,000
Lilypad$10,000
All Saints Episcopal Indian Mission$10,000
Donors Choice$5,644
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 (FY21–25, $65k) land where the poverty rate runs at 22%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Women Against Abuse: $5k → 22%Simpleway: $14k → 22%The Simpleway: $11k → 22%The Simpleway: $10k → 22%Simpleway: $10k → 22%Savage Sisters: $5k → 22%Fishtown Playschool: $10k → 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.

22%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$205k · 7 repeat orgs$720k to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
9

Total granted

$205k
$540k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+19%

Still filing today

100%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 30% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $181k went to new ones.

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

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementReligionRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • LS
    LUTHERAN SOCIAL MISSION SOCIETY
    3× · 2022–2025 · $36k · revenue +14%
  • EE
    ELOHEH EAGLES WINGS
    3× · 2022–2024 · $30k · revenue +143%
  • TP
    TIMOTEO PHILADELPHIA INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $26k · revenue +87%

Funded once

  • AC
    ATLANTIC CONFERENCE OF THE BRETHREN IN CHRIST CHURCH
    one grant, 2024 · $372k
  • CO
    CIRCLE OF HOPE
    one grant, 2022 · $120k
  • KC
    KENSINGTON COMMUNITY FOOD CO-OP
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
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
Emprendedores Inc

Education, arts and culture.

Arts & Culture
2
Endangered Kind Inc

Endangered Kind mission is to reduce gun violence using a community-driven approach that fosters trust to reach, restore, and sustain quality of life for high-risk youth and young adults ages 15-27 in the City of Philadelphia.

Human Services
3
NORTH10 Philadelphia
Youth Development
4
Philly Agile Learning Community

The purpose of Philly Agile Learning Community is to create and/or support the operation of Self-Organized Learning Environments in the Philadelphia Area.

Education
5
Philly Sound Exchange Llc

Students wrote produced and performed an original musical Bridges The musical follows students as they navigate their racial identities address issues of race at their suburban school and challenge a music education system in need of…

Arts & Culture
6
Natural Creativity

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

Youth Development
7
Philadelphia Health Services Inc

Mentoring and educational programs for female youth

Youth Development
8
Shakespeare in Clark Park

Shakespeare in Clark Park produces cultural events which bridge the gap between audiences and artists by inviting community members to take part in making and shaping our productions. Our productions are rooted in the people of…

Arts & Culture
9
Philadelphia Health Partnership
Health
10
Teen UpRise

Provided mentoring to young women in the ManayunkRoxborough neighborhoods of Philadelphia

Youth Development
11
Zia Incorporated

Providing food security for Philadelphia schoolchildren and their families with a nutritious meal-kit based delivery model

Food & Nutrition
12
Blackwell Culture Alliance Inc

Since our launch in 2018, the team at Blackwell Culture Alliance Inc has worked tirelessly to promote our cause of community service with our youth programs. We are fortunate to have volunteers and staff from all walks of life who bring…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Norris Square Neighborhood Project; the most unlike its peers is Eloheh Eagles Wings. 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

19 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 19 of the 24 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
10/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ATLANTIC CONFERENCE OF THE BRETHREN IN CHRIST CHURCH: $371,895 · OtherATLANTIC CONFERENCE OF THE BRETHREN IN CHRIST CHURCHCIRCLE OF HOPE: $120,000 · OtherCIRCLE OF HOPESIMPLE HOMES FULLER CENTER FOR HOUSING: $100,000 · OtherSIMPLE HOMES FULLER CENTER FOR HOUSINGLUTHERAN SOCIAL MISSION SOCIETY: $36,000 · Other+8 more: $76,122 · Other+8 moreTHE SIMPLE WAY: $44,635 · Human ServicesFishtown Playschool: $10,000 · Human ServicesWOMEN AGAINST ABUSE INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesSAVAGE SISTERS RECOVERY INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesNORRIS SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECT: $38,300 · Community ImprovementPAINTED BRIDE ART CENTER INC: $15,000 · Arts & CultureYes And Collaborative Arts: $10,000 · Arts & CultureROCK TO THE FUTURE INC: $7,669 · Arts & CultureDreaming Stone Arts and Ecology Center: $5,000 · Arts & CultureELOHEH EAGLES WINGS: $30,000 · ReligionTIMOTEO PHILADELPHIA INC: $26,000 · Recreation & SportsPEOPLES KITCHEN PHILLY: $25,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$704,017Human Services$64,635Community Improvement$38,300Arts & Culture$37,669Religion$30,000Recreation & Sports$26,000Food & Nutrition$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE SIMPLE WAY: $44,635 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetNORRIS SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECT: $38,300 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL MISSION SOCIETY: $36,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetELOHEH EAGLES WINGS: $30,000 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetTIMOTEO PHILADELPHIA INC: $26,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetPEOPLES KITCHEN PHILLY: $25,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetBEYOND THE BARS INC: $15,204 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetPAINTED BRIDE ART CENTER INC: $15,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetTHE ATTIC YOUTH CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFishtown Playschool: $10,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetROCK TO THE FUTURE INC: $7,669 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $5,644 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S SCHOLARSHIP FUND PHILADELPHIA: $5,274 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDreaming Stone Arts and Ecology Center: $5,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetWOMEN AGAINST ABUSE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAVAGE SISTERS RECOVERY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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…The William Penn Foun…Henrietta Tower Wurts…The Patricia Kind Fam…The Philadelphia Cult…Td Charitable Foundat…Penn Treaty Special S…Lindback Cr & Mf Foun…Bread and Roses Commu…Independence Foundati…The Barra Foundation …United Way of Greater…
The Philadelphia FoundationPA22.5× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Philadelphia Foundation · The William Penn Foundation · Henrietta Tower Wurts Memorial Foundation · The Patricia Kind Family Foundation · The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc · Td Charitable Foundation · Penn Treaty Special Service District · Lindback Cr & Mf Foundation Tw Main · Bread and Roses Community Fund · Independence Foundation · The Barra Foundation Inc · United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

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 Circle Venture Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Circle Venture Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 Circle Venture Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Circle Venture Inc 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 24 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 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 Circle Venture’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