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Gr and Grace M Sponaugle Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Gr and Grace M Sponaugle Charitable Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$45k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$200kHealth$135kArts & Culture$74kHousing & Shelter$5kFood & Nutrition$3kEnvironment$3kYouth Development$2kHuman Services$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $6k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $39k
$1,250
Median grant
2
States reached
$6k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PENN STATE HEALTH$25,000
BEN AND TIM DAY INC$13,628
SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY$1,250
PENNSYLVANIA'S STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION$1,250
FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE$1,250
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY$1,250
SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY$1,250
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 (FY19–20, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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%DOWNTOWN DAILY BREAD: $1k → 12%DOWNTOWN DAILY BREAD: $1k → 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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$376k · 23 repeat orgs$50k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +56% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
15

Total granted

$376k
$45k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+56%
+17%

Still filing today

48%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k 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
EducationHealthHuman ServicesArts & CultureFood & NutritionOther
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

  • PO
    PENNON ORGANIZATION
    7× · 2018–2024 · $71k · revenue +89%
  • PS
    Penn State Health
    2× · 2017–2025 · $26k · revenue ×183
  • TJ
    THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2020–2023 · $5k · revenue +45%

Funded once

  • SJ
    SAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $27k · revenue +34%
  • TU
    Temple University - Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education
    one grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue +5%
  • NC
    NATIONAL CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
    one grant, 2018 · $3k · revenue -5%
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
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
2
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
3
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.

Education
4
Philadelphia University

The organization is an affiliate within thomas jefferson university/jefferson health; a comprehensive professional university and tax-exempt integrated healthcare delivery system ("system"), with a tripartite mission of education, research…

Education
5
Desales University

Desales is a catholic, salesian university that inspires transformative learning through the liberal arts and professional studies by energizing students to be who they are and be that well.

Education
6
Upmc Pinnacle Hospitals

Upmc pinnacle hospitals mission as a charitable organization is dedicatied to maintaining and improving the health and quality of life for all persons of the central pennsylvania area.

Health
7
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…

—
8
Monmouth University Inc

See schedule omonmouth university is a comprehensive institution of higher education committed to excellence and integrity in teaching, scholarship and service. through its offerings in liberal arts, sciences, and professional programs,…

Education
9
Seton Hill University

Comprehensive institution of higher learning providing undergraduate and graduate student education.

Education
10
Highmark Health Group

Working as an integrated system within highmark health, employees at all of ahn's care sites, including hospitals, health + wellness pavilions, primary and specialty care offices and more, are committed to improving health and promoting…

—
11
Fairleigh Dickinson University

Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…

Education
12
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit; the most unlike its peers is Cocoa Packs 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

23 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. 23 of the 42 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/23
Grantees still filing
16/23
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BEN & TIM DAY INC: $91,469 · OtherBEN & TIM DAY INCPENN STATE UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT: $83,000 · OtherPENN STATE UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENTPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY: $24,550 · OtherPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITYPENN STATE UNIVERSITY: $14,750 · OtherPENN STATE UNIVERSITYHARRISBURG AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $8,750 · Other+17 more: $37,500 · Other+17 morePENNON ORGANIZATION: $71,000 · Arts & CulturePENNON ORGANIZATIONNATIONAL CIVIL WAR MUSEUM: $2,500 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $750 · Arts & CultureSAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY: $27,200 · EducationSAINT JOSEPH'…THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $5,000 · EducationTHOMAS JEFFER…UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $5,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF…DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $3,750 · EducationDUQUESNE UNIV…Temple University - Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education: $2,500 · EducationWAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY: $2,500 · EducationTHE NATIVITY SCHOOL OF HARRISBURG: $2,500 · Education+2 more: $2,500 · EducationPenn State Health: $26,400 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,000 · HealthGAUDENZIA INC: $1,000 · Health+1 more: $500 · HealthBRIDGE OF HOPE HARRISBURG AREA: $5,000 · Human ServicesDOWNTOWN DAILY BREAD: $2,000 · Human ServicesCHOICES HEALTHCARE: $1,500 · Human ServicesCOCOA PACKS INC: $3,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$260,019Arts & Culture$74,250Education$50,950Health$28,900Human Services$8,500Food & Nutrition$3,000

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 budgetPENNON ORGANIZATION: $71,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetSAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY: $27,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPenn State Health: $26,400 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBRIDGE OF HOPE HARRISBURG AREA: $5,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDUQUESNE UNIVERSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $3,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOCOA PACKS INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTemple University - Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL CIVIL WAR MUSEUM: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetALVERNIA UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATIVITY SCHOOL OF HARRISBURG: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHOICES HEALTHCARE: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe George Washington University: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSETON HALL UNIVERSITY: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGAUDENZIA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAACA MUSEUM INC: $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF HARRISBURG AREA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds PENNON ORGANIZATION ↗
  • Who funds SAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Penn State Health ↗
  • Who funds THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds BRIDGE OF HOPE HARRISBURG AREA ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ↗
  • Who funds DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ↗
  • Who funds COCOA PACKS INC ↗
  • Who funds Temple University - Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education ↗
  • Who funds WAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL CIVIL WAR MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds ALVERNIA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE NATIVITY SCHOOL OF HARRISBURG ↗
  • Who funds DOWNTOWN DAILY BREAD ↗
  • Who funds CHOICES HEALTHCARE ↗
  • Who funds The George Washington University ↗
  • Who funds SETON HALL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds BLOOD CANCER UNITED INC ↗
  • Who funds GAUDENZIA INC ↗
  • Who funds AACA MUSEUM INC ↗

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.

United Way of the Cap…Hall FoundationMcCormick Family Fdn …The Donald B and Doro…The Foundation for En…Fasnacht Family Found…Joseph T and Helen M …Alexander and Jane Bo…John Crain Kunkel Fou…Pennsylvania Automoti…Central Pennsylvania …The Bank of America C…
United Way of the Capital RegionPA19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of the Capital Region · Hall Foundation · McCormick Family Fdn Agent 80397 · The Donald B and Dorothy L Stabler Foundation · The Foundation for Enhancing Communities · Fasnacht Family Foundation · Joseph T and Helen M Simpson Foundation · Alexander and Jane Boyd Ta Foundation · John Crain Kunkel Foundation · Pennsylvania Automotive Association Foundation · Central Pennsylvania Food Bank · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

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 Gr and Grace M Sponaugle Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gr and Grace M Sponaugle Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Seton Hall University: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
7report 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 Gr and Grace M Sponaugle Charitable Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Gr and Grace M Sponaugle Charitable 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 42 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 Gr and Grace M Sponaugle’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