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· Private foundation

Maria Fisher Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$91k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$35k
Largest
01What you fund
0186% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202025.

Housing & Shelter$37kEducation$36kYouth Development$35kReligion$14kHealth$10kCommunity Improvement$5kHuman Services$4kPublic Safety & Disaster$550Other$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k14 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $70k
$1,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MILAGRO HOUSE$35,000
CHILDREN DESERVE A CHANCE FOUNDATIONATTOLLO$25,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
ASSETS LANCASTER$5,000
Individual grant recipient$3,500
Individual grant recipient$3,000
NATIVITY SCHOOL$3,000
A WEEK AWAY$1,750
WATER STREET RESCUE MISSION$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
TENFOLD$586
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$550
TOYS FOR TOTS$515
EDIBLE CLASSROOM$500
ST JUDE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL$100
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY23–25, $46k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HOSPICE & COMMUNITY CARE: $10k → 9%MILAGRO HOUSE: $35k → 9%WATER STREET RESCUE MISSION: $1k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

12%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$19k · 3 repeat orgs$139k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
14

Total granted

$19k
$54k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-4%
+28%

Still filing today

33%
7%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 5% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $86k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementInternationalHealthOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • NS
    NATIVITY SCHOOL
    3× · 2023–2025 · $9k
  • TN
    THE NATIVITY SCHOOL OF HARRISBURG
    2× · 2020–2021 · $6k · revenue -4%
  • AW
    A WEEK AWAY
    2× · 2024–2025 · $4k

Funded once

  • FG
    FAITHFUL GIVE INSTRUMENTS OF CHRIST HAITI
    one grant, 2024 · $12k
  • CH
    CHOICES HEALTHCAREgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +28%
  • GO
    GIRLS ON THE RUN
    one grant, 2024 · $9k

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Mom's House Inc of Lancaster

Empower single parents and their children to set and attain educational goals through parent support and mentorship, early childhood education and safe affordable childcare.

2
Ywca Lancaster

The ywca lancaster is a nonprofit organization with a mission to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

3
Lancaster Country Day School

The mission of lancaster country day school is to empower students to explore their passions, find purpose, and become the best versions of themselves.

Education
4
Lancaster County Academy

Lancaster county academy's mission is to empower non-traditional learners to achieve academic success, career readiness and personal growth through flexible, student-centered programs that values independence, resilience, and real-world…

Education
5
Lancaster Equity Inc

Lancaster equity coordinates efforts to advance communities where everyone has an opportunity to thrive, whether that be through neighborhood revitalization, living wage work, entrepreneurship, or safe and affordable housing.

Housing & Shelter
6
Central Market Trust

The organization performs the daily management of the lancaster central market in a manner that facilitates the economic health of standholders' businesses while remaining consistent with traditional market and historic preservation…

7
Literacy Council of Lanc-Leb Lva

Our mission is success through lifelong learning and learning for life. our vision is for adults to have the skills to transform their lives, sustain their families and strengthen their communities.

Education
8
Lancaster County Christian School

Education - private christian school that glorifies god as a community of faith and learning.

Religion
9
Manchester Academic Charter School
Education
10
Montessori Academy of Lancaster

Provide creative and stimulating intellectual, artistic, and developmental experiences for pre-school and grade school children.

11
The New School of Lancaster Dba New School Montessori

The mission is to facilitate the unfolding of each child's unique potential through an outstanding montessori education that enables a child to meet future challenges, and that encourages a love of learning, independent thinking, social…

12
Lancaster Preschool

Lancaster preschool believes that the preschool is an extension of the home environment where children can learn new skills, interact with teachers and peers, and experience hands-on learning opportunities through developmentally…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Water Street Ministries and the most unlike its peers is Milagro House 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

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 9 of the 32 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
3/9
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CHILDREN DESERVE A CHANCE FOUNDATIONATTOLLO — $25,000 · OtherCHILDREN DESERVE A CHANCE FOUNDATIONATTOLLOFAITHFUL GIVE INSTRUMENTS OF CHRIST HAITI — $12,000 · OtherFAITHFUL GIVE INSTRUMENTS OF CHRIST HAITIIndividual grant recipient — $10,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientGIRLS ON THE RUN — $9,180 · OtherGIRLS ON THE RUNNATIVITY SCHOOL — $9,000 · OtherNATIVITY SCHOOLIndividual grant recipient — $3,500 · OtherA WEEK AWAY — $3,500 · Other+17 more — $27,584 · Other+17 moreMILAGRO HOUSE INC — $35,000 · Human ServicesMILAGRO HOUSE INCCHOICES HEALTHCARE — $10,000 · Human ServicesCHOICES HEALTHCARE+1 more — $1,000 · Human ServicesTHE NATIVITY SCHOOL OF HARRISBURG — $6,000 · EducationTHE EDIBLE CLASSROOM — $500 · EducationASSETS LANCASTER — $5,000 · Community ImprovementWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $550 · InternationalST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $100 · Health
Other$99,764Human Services$46,000Education$6,500Community Improvement$5,000International$550Health$100

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMILAGRO HOUSE INC — $35,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetCHOICES HEALTHCARE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATIVITY SCHOOL OF HARRISBURG — $6,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetASSETS LANCASTER — $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWATER STREET MINISTRIES — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTENFOLD — $586 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

  • Who funds MILAGRO HOUSE INC
  • Who funds CHOICES HEALTHCARE
  • Who funds THE NATIVITY SCHOOL OF HARRISBURG
  • Who funds ASSETS LANCASTER
  • Who funds WATER STREET MINISTRIES
  • Who funds TENFOLD
  • Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
  • Who funds THE EDIBLE CLASSROOM
  • Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Lancaster County Community FoundationPA15.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lancaster County Community Foundation · United Way of Lancaster County · High Foundation · Ppl Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Maria Fisher Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Maria Fisher Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Maria Fisher 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 32 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

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

    Source object · view filing

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