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L B Smith Estate Foundation Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

L B Smith Estate Foundation Inc

Provide grants to organizations for cultural, medical and educational activities

$414k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$166k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$1.3MHuman Services$811kEmployment$74kFood & Nutrition$62kPhilanthropy$15kArts & Culture$10kHealth$10kReligion$6k
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $373,928, the rows itemized in this filing. The $414,018 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $40,090 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 · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $55k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $292k
$25,680
Median grant
2
States reached
$7.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MESSIAH UNIVERISTY$165,500
SALVATION ARMY$126,488
MIDWEST FOODBANK$29,460
ST STEPHENS EPISCOPAL SCHOOL$25,680
LYCOMING COLLEGE$9,720
NEW HOPE MINISTRIES$6,000
DICKINSON COLLEGE$6,000
NED SMITH CENTER FOR NATURE AND ART$5,080
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 (FY17–24, $104k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 60% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%GREENLIGHT OPERATION: $6k → 8%NEW HOPE MINISTRIES: $6k → 9%MIDWEST FOODBANK: $29k → 11%NEW HOPE MINISTRIES: $6k → 9%MIDWEST FOODBANK: $20k → 11%NEW HOPE MINISTRIES: $6k → 9%MIDWEST FOODBANK: $12k → 11%NEW HOPE MINISTRIES: $6k → 9%NEW HOPE MINISTRIES: $6k → 9%NEW HOPE MINISTRIES: $6k → 9%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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 13 repeat orgs$28k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
4

Total granted

$2.3M
$23k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+26%

Still filing today

92%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesEmploymentPhilanthropyHealthArts & CultureOther
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

  • MU
    MESSIAH UNIVERSITY
    8× · 2017–2024 · $945k · revenue +9%
  • LC
    LYCOMING COLLEGE
    8× · 2017–2024 · $136k · revenue +11%
  • SS
    ST STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
    7× · 2017–2024 · $105k · revenue +30%

Funded once

  • MC
    MOUNT CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
    one grant, 2017 · $6k
  • GO
    GREENLIGHT OPERATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $6k · revenue +162%
  • LV
    LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $6k · revenue +26%
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
Gettysburg College

Gettysburg college is a residential, undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences.

Education
2
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
3
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
4
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
5
The Academy of the New Church

The mission of the academy is to study and teach the truths of the natural and spiritual worlds in the light of the old testament, the new testament, and the writings of emanuel swedenborg. this is done at the academy of the new church…

Education
6
Geneva College

Geneva college is a christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to god and neighbor.

Education
7
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
8
Lincoln Memorial University

Lincoln memorial university is a values-based learning community dedicated to providing educational experiences in the liberal arts and professional studies.

Education
9
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
10
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…

—
11
Alvernia University

Alvernia university is a catholic comprehensive university with a liberal arts foundation founded by the bernardine franciscan sisters in 1958. see continuation on schedule o.

—
12
The Trustees of Grinnell College

To educate students in the liberal arts through free inquiry and the open exchange of ideas.when grinnell college framed its charter in the iowa territory of the united states in 1846, it set forth a mission to educate its students "for…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lycoming College; the most unlike its peers is Casa Charter School Foundation. 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

16 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. 16 of the 18 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
13/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MESSIAH UNIVERSITY: $945,493 · EducationMESSIAH UNIVERSITYLYCOMING COLLEGE: $135,613 · EducationLYCOMING COLLEGEST STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $104,850 · EducationST STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOLELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE: $47,112 · Education+2 more: $24,000 · EducationTHE SALVATION ARMY: $769,005 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYCLEVE J FREDRICKSEN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $35,000 · Other+1 more: $6,000 · OtherMIDWEST FOOD BANK NFP: $61,742 · Human ServicesNEW HOPE MINISTRIES INC: $36,000 · Human ServicesGREENLIGHT OPERATION: $6,000 · Human ServicesGOODWILL KEYSTONE AREA: $58,743 · EmploymentGOODWILL KEYSTONE AREA FOUNDATION: $15,191 · EmploymentASBURY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · PhilanthropyHOMELAND CENTER: $10,000 · HealthNED SMITH CENTER FOR NATURE AND ART: $5,080 · EnvironmentCASA Charter School Foundation: $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$1,257,068Other$810,005Human Services$103,742Employment$73,934Philanthropy$15,000Health$10,000Environment$5,080Arts & Culture$5,000

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 budgetMESSIAH UNIVERSITY: $945,493 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetLYCOMING COLLEGE: $135,613 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetST STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $104,850 over 7y, 2.3% of budgetMIDWEST FOOD BANK NFP: $61,742 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGOODWILL KEYSTONE AREA: $58,743 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE: $47,112 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNEW HOPE MINISTRIES INC: $36,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCLEVE J FREDRICKSEN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $35,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetDICKINSON COLLEGE: $18,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGOODWILL KEYSTONE AREA FOUNDATION: $15,191 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetASBURY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHOMELAND CENTER: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREENLIGHT OPERATION: $6,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetLEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNED SMITH CENTER FOR NATURE AND ART: $5,080 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCASA Charter School Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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 Foundation for En…United Way of the Cap…John Crain Kunkel Fou…Joseph T and Helen M …McCormick Family Fdn …Hall FoundationKenneth Bankert Found…Anne & Philip Glatfel…The Donald B and Doro…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…
The Foundation for Enhancing CommunitiesPA21.8× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Foundation for Enhancing Communities · United Way of the Capital Region · John Crain Kunkel Foundation · Joseph T and Helen M Simpson Foundation · McCormick Family Fdn Agent 80397 · Hall Foundation · Kenneth Bankert Foundation Inc · Anne & Philip Glatfelter III Family Foundation · The Donald B and Dorothy L Stabler Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 L B Smith Estate Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from L B Smith Estate Foundation Inc. 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%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 L B Smith Estate Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to L B Smith Estate Foundation 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 18 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on L B Smith Estate’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