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Essa Bank & Trust Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Essa Bank & Trust Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$320k
Granted FY2024still arriving
16
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$125k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

99% of Essa Bank & Trust Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Scranton Area Foundation Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 4 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2024, the last year Essa Bank & Trust Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 11 organizations, $320k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

27
’17
27
’18
29
’19
9
’20
21
’21
20
’22
17
’23
11
’24
4
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$5.6MArts & Culture$2.3MEducation$2.0MHuman Services$1.4MHealth$578kPublic Safety & Disaster$543kReligion$250kEnvironment$210kOther$0
02FY2024 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $35k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $205k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION SERVICES FOUNDATION$125,000
STROUDSBURG UNITED METHODIST CHURCH$80,000
CYPRESS HOUSE BAKERY$20,000
MCTI FOUNDATION$10,000
SUBURBAN EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES$10,000
MATERNAL AND FAMILY HEALTH SERVICES$10,000
YOUTH INFUSION INC$10,000
STROUDSBURG WESLEYAN CHURCH$10,000
VALOR CLINIC FOUNDATION$10,000
NORTHAMPTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$8,000
QUIET VALLEY LIVING HISTORICAL FARM$7,500
CLYMER LIBRARY$5,000
POCONO WILDLIFE REHABILITATION AND EDUCATION CENTER$5,000
WEST END FAIR ASSOCIATION$5,000
EAST STROUDBURG UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$2,500
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 (FY17–23, $557k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 91% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PHOENIXVILLE AREA COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $5k → 6%VICTIMS RESOURCE CENTER: $10k → 12%OUTREACH CENTER FOR COMMUNITY RESOURCES: $5k → 13%HOSPICE OF THE SACRED HEART: $5k → 15%THE LIGHTHOUSE INC: $22k → 22%THE LIGHTHOUSE INC: $5k → 22%EQUI-LIBRUIM INC: $5k → 11%FAMILIES FIRST: $6k → 11%RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE OF SCRANTON: $10k → 13%PINEBROOK FAMILY ANSWERS: $8k → 11%PINEBROOK FAMILY ANSWERS: $5k → 11%WOMEN'S RESOURCES OF MONROE COUNTY: $31k → 12%CENTER FOR VISION LOSS: $12k → 11%WOMEN'S RESOURCES OF MONROE COUNTY: $20k → 12%LEHIGH VALLEY CHILDREN'S CENTERS: $5k → 11%THIRD STREET ALLIANCE FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN: $5k → 11%POCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: $100k → 12%POCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: $100k → 12%POCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: $100k → 12%POCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: $65k → 12%DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION SERVICES OF MC: $12k → 12%POCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: $15k → 12%CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER OF MONROE COUNTY: $5k → 12%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.

68%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.6M · 41 repeat orgs$2.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.

41 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 34 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call). Read against FY2024, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

41
123

Total granted

$5.6M
$2.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+9%

Still filing today

71%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $38k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • NC
    NORTHAMPTON COUNTY AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION
    8× · 2017–2025 · $539k · revenue +59%
  • PS
    POCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN INCORPORATED
    5× · 2017–2023 · $380k · revenue +16%
  • DE
    DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $250k · revenue +28% · 94% of their budget

Funded once

  • SC
    SUMMIT CHARTER SCHOOL
    one grant, 2020 · $750k
  • FP
    FAMILY PROMISE
    one grant, 2021 · $150k
  • NF
    NCC FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2018 · $104k
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
Pocono Mountain Regional Emergency Medical Services

Provide emergency ambulance services

Health
2
Adamstown Area Library

The mission of the adamstown library is to maintain and improve the quality of life in our community by providing access to cultural, intellectual, and informational resources and programs to promote life-long learning for all ages. the…

Education
3
Northeastern Pennsylvania Health Care Foundation
Education
4
Delaware Valley University

See schedule o.we are inspired by the ideals of our founder who, in 1896, emphasized respect for all people and ideas, who honored knowledge with practice, progress and the common good. our historical commitment to experiential learning…

—
5
Valley Community Library

Public lending library

—
6
North Pocono Public Library

Public lending library

—
7
Monongahela Valley Hospital Inc

The mission of penn highlands mon valley is to enhance the health of the residents of the mid-monongahela valley area by providing outstanding healthcare services.

Health
8
Family Care Centers Inc

Establish and maintain a medical group consisting of clinicians employed by lehigh valley health network, part of jefferson health. this medical group will fulfill the charitable mission of promoting community health through health…

—
9
Pocono Health System

We heal, comfort and care for the people of our community by providing advanced and compassionate health care of superior quality and value supported by education and clinical research.

—
10
Punxsutawney Area Hospital Inc

To provide high quality, cost effective, primary health care and to coordinate care for patients requiring secondary and tertiary services.

Health
11
Lehigh Valley Hospital - Pocono

Our mission is who we are and what we do: to provide world class care close to home. our vision is what we aim for to best serve our community: to build a healthier community.

Health
12
Penn Highlands Healthcare Inc

Our community-based and controlled health care system exists to improve regional access to a wide array of premier primary care and advanced health services while supporting a reverence for life and the worth and dignity of each individual.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wildlands Conservancy Inc; the most unlike its peers is Mcti Foundation Inc. 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

100 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. 100 of the 183 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
23
Early backer (in before they grew)
96/100
Grantees still filing
62/100
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SCRANTON AREA FOUNDATION INC: $5,487,792 · PhilanthropySCRANTON AREA FOUNDATION INC+6 more: $87,000 · PhilanthropyMONROE COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION INC: $2,000,000 · OtherMONROE COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION INCSUMMIT CHARTER SCHOOL: $750,000 · OtherSUMMIT CHARTER SCHOOLWEST END FIRE COMPANY: $399,999 · OtherWEST END FIRE COMPANYTHE SALVATION ARMY: $315,000 · Other+118 more: $2,510,007 · Other+118 moreNORTHAMPTON COUNTY AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $539,000 · EducationNORTHAMPT…DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 · EducationDEVELOPME…EAST STROUDSBURG UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $114,500 · EducationEAST STRO…MISERICORDIA UNIVERSITY: $55,000 · EducationUniversity of Scranton: $45,000 · EducationCEDAR CREST COLLEGE: $40,000 · Education+8 more: $67,835 · Education+8 morePOCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN INCORPORATED: $380,000 · Human ServicesWOMEN'S RESOURCES OF MONROE CTY INC: $50,634 · Human ServicesTHE LIGHTHOUSE: $27,000 · Human Services+13 more: $98,878 · Human ServicesVALOR CLINIC FOUNDATION: $78,644 · HealthHCSC - BLOOD CENTER: $55,000 · HealthDevereux Corporation: $50,000 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc: $33,000 · HealthST LUKE'S HOSPITAL MONROE CAMPUS: $25,000 · HealthMATERNAL & FAMILY HEALTH SERVICES INC: $10,000 · Health+3 more: $17,700 · HealthALLENTOWN SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureARTSQUEST: $30,000 · Arts & CultureNORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · Arts & CultureMULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY FAMILY SERVICES INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureQUIET VALLEY LIVING HISTORICAL FARM: $20,000 · Arts & CulturePOCONO ARTS COUNCIL: $11,500 · Arts & CultureCIVIC THEATRE OF ALLENTOWN PA: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $19,500 · Arts & CultureANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY OF MONROE: $80,000 · AnimalsPOCONO WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER: $65,000 · Animals+1 more: $4,000 · Animals
Philanthropy$5,574,792Other$5,975,006Education$1,111,335Human Services$556,512Health$269,344Arts & Culture$166,000Animals$149,000

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 budgetMONROE COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION INC: $2,000,000 over 2y, 48% of budgetNORTHAMPTON COUNTY AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $539,000 over 8y, 1.8% of budgetPOCONO SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN INCORPORATED: $380,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetDEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 over 2y, 94% of budgetEAST STROUDSBURG UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $114,500 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetPOCONO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER INC: $100,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetEASTERN MONROE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $99,998 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF MONROE COUNTY: $97,512 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY OF MONROE: $80,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetVALOR CLINIC FOUNDATION: $78,644 over 2y, 16% of budgetPOCONO AREA TRANSITIONAL HOUSING INC: $73,262 over 2y, 12% of budgetPOCONO WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER: $65,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $65,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOCONO ALLIANCE INC: $60,000 over 2y, 5.6% of budgetHCSC - BLOOD CENTER: $55,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMISERICORDIA UNIVERSITY: $55,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN'S RESOURCES OF MONROE CTY INC: $50,634 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetSTROUD AREA REGIONAL POLICE COMMISSION FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 31% of budgetUniversity of Scranton: $45,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCEDAR CREST COLLEGE: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRODHEADS WATERSHED ASSOCIATION: $35,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetBRADBURY-SULLIVAN LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER: $34,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $33,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMONROE COUNTY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $30,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetALLENTOWN SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetARTSQUEST: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLEHIGH CARBON COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE LIGHTHOUSE: $27,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetRIPPLE COMMUNITY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetPleasant Valley Ecumenical Network: $25,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetST LUKE'S HOSPITAL MONROE CAMPUS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY FAMILY SERVICES INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetPOCONO MOUNTAINS UNITED WAY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetQUIET VALLEY LIVING HISTORICAL FARM: $20,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetFEEDING FAMILIES MINISTRY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetENVISION HOUSING INC: $18,098 over 1y, 10% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MONROE COUNTY: $16,000 over 2y, 7.0% of budgetBARRETT TOWNSHIP VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY: $16,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetALBURTIS AREA COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $15,700 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetKING'S COLLEGE: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPINEBROOK FAMILY ANSWERS: $13,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION SERVICES OF MONROE COUNTY INC: $12,400 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSIGHTS FOR HOPE: $12,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetPOCONO ARTS COUNCIL: $11,500 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetCIVIC THEATRE OF ALLENTOWN PA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF EASTON INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCHILD HUNGER OUTREACH PARTNERS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

Ppl FoundationLehigh Valley Communi…United Way of the Gre…The Lester G Abeloff …Allone CharitiesThe Century Fund TrustJohn a and Margaret P…Air Products Foundati…Harry C Trexler EstateMartin Guitar Charita…R Dale & Frances M Hu…Peoples Security Char…
Ppl FoundationPA79.7× affinity41 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ppl Foundation · Lehigh Valley Community Foundation · United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley · The Lester G Abeloff Foundation · Allone Charities · The Century Fund Trust · John a and Margaret Post Foundation · Air Products Foundation · Harry C Trexler Estate · Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation · R Dale & Frances M Hughes Fdn 47f100011 · Peoples Security Charitable Foundation

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 Essa Bank & Trust Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Essa Bank & Trust Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    40report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 Essa Bank & Trust Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Essa Bank & Trust 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 183 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Essa Bank &’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