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· Public charity

Northwest Institute of Research

The NORTHWEST INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH, a nonprofit research and technical assistance organization, partners with public and private human service organizations and their stakeholders to build and operate high quality, accountable, and results-driven programs.

$2.7M
Granted FY2020
90
Grants FY2020
2
States reached
$107k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172020.

Education$7.4MHealth$57k
02FY2020 · 90 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 90 grants below total $961,171 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $2,705,993 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $1,744,822 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2020

  • Under $10k56 grants · $285k
  • $10k–50k33 grants · $570k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $107k
$7,720
Median grant
2
States reached
$9.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
YMCA OF GREATER ERIE$106,590
EARLY CONNECTIONS INC$37,370
CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERS INC$34,440
ST MARTIN CENTER INC$31,913
SAINT VINCENT HEALTH CENTER$24,540
KUEHG CORP$23,693
MERCYHURST CHILD LRNG CENTER INC$22,645
TIMBER RIDGE CHILD CARE$22,173
IROCK FITNESS$22,089
MEADVILLE YMCA$20,050
FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD HERMITAGE PA$19,320
STONE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH CHILD CTR$17,715
GROWING AND LEARNING CENTER LLC$17,275
HEALTHY KIDS CHILDCARE LLC$17,152
CREATIVE PRESCHOOL & DAY CARE$16,590
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 (FY20–20, $240k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%BRADFORD CHILD CARE SERVICES -16: $16k → 11%MEADVILLE YMCA: $20k → 14%YMCA OF FRANKLIN & GROVE CITY: $15k → 13%SCENIC RIVERS YMCA: $11k → 14%MEADVILLE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $15k → 14%BUILDING BLOCKS CHILD CENTER INC: $14k → 13%ZION EDUCATION CENTER: $4k → 13%ST MARTIN CENTER INC: $32k → 15%DR GERTRUDE A BARBER CENTER INC: $5k → 15%YMCA OF GREATER ERIE: $107k → 15%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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$6.8M · 128 repeat orgs$662k to everyone else

128 repeat relationships — 59 still active in FY2020, 69 since wound down; 31 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

128
42

Total granted

$6.8M
$501k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+36%

Still filing today

34%
19%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $160k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
Human ServicesEducationHealthRecreation & SportsYouth DevelopmentPublic BenefitOther

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

  • CD
    CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERS INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $215k · revenue +128%
  • TL
    THE LEARNING LAMP INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $174k · revenue +109%
  • SM
    St Martin Center
    9× · 2017–2025 · $166k · revenue +47%

Funded once

  • CC
    Cen-Clear Child Services Incgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $39k · revenue +29%
  • PC
    PENSLETON CHILD CARE CENTER INC
    one grant, 2017 · $30k
  • CA
    CHILD ADVOCATES OF BLAIR COUNTY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +36%

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
Bucksport Area Child Care Center

It is our mission to provide a child-centered environment, treating each child and family with respect.

Human Services
2
Kearney Family Ymca

We offer a wide variety of programs and services, providing opportunities for adults and children to improve in spirit, mind and body. the ymca has childcare and preschool for children. we also have fitness classes, swim lessons, and…

Human Services
3
Concerned Citizens Child Care Inc

Programs to benefit proper development of children including operation of child day care center.

Human Services
4
Young Child Associates

Young Child Assiciates mission is to keep children safe and to support families in the daily care and guidance of their children. Our programs are designed to promote social, academic and personal growth using large and small group…

Human Services
5
Child Care Center of the Common Ground Foundation

Provide child care services to the community for children ages 16 weeks to 12 years.

Human Services
6
Hilltop Community Childrens Center

Our mission is to provide a safe, nurturing, and educational environment for children while their parents are working, in school, or in job training programs.

Human Services
7
The Young Men's Christian Association of Delaware County

The young men's christian association of delaware county d/b/a the community ymca of eastern delaware county ("the community ymca or "the organization") was organized on december 14, 1948 under the laws of pennsylvania as a nonprofit…

Human Services
8
Diamond Street Early Childhood Cent

Provide a nurturing, safe environment where children can explore and learn about their world. by recognizing each child as a unique individual, children will learn to respect others, be kind, cooperate, and share while developing a strong…

Education
9
The Children's Center

To provide an atmosphere that will enhance social, emotional, physical and intellectual skills for children in a safe and happy environment.

Human Services
10
The Children's Center

To meet the needs of the community by providing quality child care that encourages individual development in a safe, nuturing environment

Human Services
11
Carriage House Children's Center Inc

The primary purpose of the organization is to provide structured day care programs for pre-school children. the organization is dedicated to the nurturing, care and education of infants, toddlers, and pre-school children. the center owns…

Human Services
12
Christ Church Day Care Inc

Building a stronger tomorrow through nurturing today.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Community Services of Lawrence County and the most unlike its peers is Mom's House Inc of Johnstown. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 53 years old; the field is 30. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number14%0%<5yr11%2%5–10yr14%7%10–20yr16%17%20–35yr20%31%35–55yr25%43%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value14%0%<5yr11%0%5–10yr14%3%10–20yr16%17%20–35yr20%29%35–55yr25%51%55yr+

The field is 14% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.7% lost their exemption, against 6% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.7%2/287
the rest of the field
6%
190/3,454

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

64 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. 64 of the 201 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)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
62/64
Grantees still filing
44/64
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERS INC — $215,021 · Other+160 more — $4,509,431 · Other+160 moreYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER ERIE — $589,607 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIAT…St Martin Center — $165,773 · Human ServicesSt Martin CenterBUTLER COUNTY FAMILY YMCA — $139,719 · Human ServicesBUTLER COUNTY FAMILY YMCAHOLLIDAYSBURG YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOC — $112,127 · Human ServicesHOLLIDAYSBURG YOUNG MENS CHRIS…YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF KEYSTONE CROSSROADS — $111,549 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIAT…BRADFORD CHILD CARE SERVICES INC — $111,362 · Human ServicesBRADFORD CHILD CARE SERVICES I…MEADVILLE AREA FAMILY YMCA — $95,367 · Human ServicesMEADVILLE CHILDREN'S CENTER — $93,546 · Human ServicesBUTLER COUNTY CHILDREN'S CENTER INC DBA EARLY LEARNING CONNECTIONS — $77,083 · Human Services+15 more — $533,717 · Human Services+15 moreTHE LEARNING LAMP INC — $173,705 · EducationCAMBRIA COUNTY CHILD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $124,283 · EducationLIFESTEPS INC — $46,691 · EducationKEYSTONE SMILES COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER INC — $26,409 · EducationCHILD ADVOCATES OF BLAIR COUNTY INC — $25,000 · EducationJefferson-Clarion Headstart Inc — $24,000 · Education+3 more — $19,350 · EducationTIMBER RIDGE PROGRAM INC — $100,989 · Recreation & SportsCHILDREN'S CENTER OF MERCER COUNTY — $57,350 · HealthBOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE ROUSE ESTATE — $28,291 · HealthLOLA'S INTERNATIONAL INC — $38,276 · Youth DevelopmentELCAM INC — $13,287 · Public BenefitBAYFRONT NATO INC — $5,000 · Community Improvement
Other$4,724,452Human Services$2,029,850Education$439,438Recreation & Sports$100,989Health$85,641Youth Development$38,276Public Benefit$13,287Community Improvement$5,000

Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER ERIE — $589,607 over 8y, 1.8% of budgetCHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERS INC — $215,021 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetTHE LEARNING LAMP INC — $173,705 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetSt Martin Center — $165,773 over 9y, 2.3% of budgetBUTLER COUNTY FAMILY YMCA — $139,719 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetCAMBRIA COUNTY CHILD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $124,283 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetKIDS FIRST BLAIR COUNTY — $120,587 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetHOLLIDAYSBURG YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOC — $112,127 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF KEYSTONE CROSSROADS — $111,549 over 9y, 1.1% of budgetBRADFORD CHILD CARE SERVICES INC — $111,362 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetTIMBER RIDGE PROGRAM INC — $100,989 over 9y, 5.9% of budgetMEADVILLE AREA FAMILY YMCA — $95,367 over 9y, 1.6% of budgetMEADVILLE CHILDREN'S CENTER — $93,546 over 9y, 3.4% of budgetMERCYHURST CHILD LEARNING CENTER INC — $89,290 over 9y, 5.0% of budgetBUTLER COUNTY CHILDREN'S CENTER INC DBA EARLY LEARNING CONNECTIONS — $77,083 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetEARLY CONNECTIONS INC — $72,575 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetIndiana Co Child Day Care Program — $67,636 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetYoung Mens Christian Association of Corry Pennsylvania — $61,073 over 9y, 2.4% of budgetCHILDREN'S CENTER OF MERCER COUNTY — $57,350 over 8y, 2.6% of budgetFRENCH CREEK VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLINC — $52,297 over 9y, 5.6% of budgetUNITED COMMUNITY SERVICES OF LAWRENCE COUNTY — $51,437 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetBUILDING BLOCKS CHILD CENTER INC — $50,910 over 8y, 3.4% of budgetCHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY OF MERCER COUNTY — $49,776 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetTHE SCENIC RIVERS YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION — $49,657 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetLIFESTEPS INC — $46,691 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJEFFERSON DEFREES FAMILY CENTER — $46,325 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetYoung Mens Christian Association of Warren PA — $46,122 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetFAMILY CHILDREN & COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION — $43,132 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetStepping Stones Children's Center — $38,375 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetLOLA'S INTERNATIONAL INC — $38,276 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetALLEGHENY LUTHERAN SOCIAL MINISTRIES INC — $33,439 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetChildrens Aid Society in Clearfield County — $33,380 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetUS COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS INC — $32,057 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMEADVILLE COOPERATIVE PRESCHOOL — $31,563 over 6y, 5.8% of budgetDR GERTRUDE A BARBER CENTER INC — $28,972 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetBOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE ROUSE ESTATE — $28,291 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetELLWOOD CITY CHILDRENS CENTER INC — $27,739 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetKEYSTONE SMILES COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER INC — $26,409 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCHILD ADVOCATES OF BLAIR COUNTY INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetJefferson-Clarion Headstart Inc — $24,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMOM'S HOUSE INC of JOHNSTOWN — $22,426 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetLAWRENCE COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST MARK COMMUNITY DAY CARE CENTER INC — $19,192 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetBUHL COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTER — $18,477 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetGROWING IN FAITH TOGETHER LEARNING CENTER — $17,658 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetZION EDUCATION CENTER — $15,984 over 8y, 2.6% of budgetYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF OLEAN NY AND BRADFORD PA — $15,687 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetELCAM INC — $13,287 over 2y, 0.1% 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 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER ERIE
  • Who funds CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERS INC
  • Who funds THE LEARNING LAMP INC
  • Who funds St Martin Center
  • Who funds BUTLER COUNTY FAMILY YMCA
  • Who funds CAMBRIA COUNTY CHILD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
  • Who funds KIDS FIRST BLAIR COUNTY
  • Who funds HOLLIDAYSBURG YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOC
  • Who funds YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF KEYSTONE CROSSROADS
  • Who funds BRADFORD CHILD CARE SERVICES INC
  • Who funds TIMBER RIDGE PROGRAM INC
  • Who funds MEADVILLE AREA FAMILY YMCA
  • Who funds MEADVILLE CHILDREN'S CENTER
  • Who funds MERCYHURST CHILD LEARNING CENTER INC
  • Who funds BUTLER COUNTY CHILDREN'S CENTER INC DBA EARLY LEARNING CONNECTIONS
  • Who funds EARLY CONNECTIONS INC
  • Who funds Indiana Co Child Day Care Program
  • Who funds Young Mens Christian Association of Corry Pennsylvania
  • Who funds CHILDREN'S CENTER OF MERCER COUNTY
  • Who funds FRENCH CREEK VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLINC
  • Who funds UNITED COMMUNITY SERVICES OF LAWRENCE COUNTY

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.

Early Connections IncPA30.4× affinity12 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Early Connections Inc · Erie Community Foundation · Central Pennsylvania Scholarship Fund · United Way of Erie County · Second Harvest Food Bank of Nw Pa Inc · Northwest Charitable Foundation · Community Foundation of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio · Buhl Regional Health Foundation · National Council of YMCAs of the USA · Wabtec Foundation · Aj and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust · McElhattan 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 Northwest Institute of Research 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%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    32report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Northwest Institute of Research?

    Find your warmest path to Northwest Institute of Research 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 201 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $3.3M of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2020, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph