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Plinth

· Public charity

Pennsylvania Humanities Council

We put the humanities in action to create positive change in our lives and communities.

$1.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
28
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$55k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

69% of Pennsylvania Humanities Council’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Wayne County Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2024, the last year Pennsylvania Humanities Council named its own grantees at scale: 27 organizations, $1M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

5
’17
16
’18
17
’19
64
’20
18
’21
106
’22
26
’23
27
’24
1
’25

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

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 FY2017–2025.

Arts & Culture$2.5MEducation$1.1MPublic Benefit$388kCommunity Improvement$287kYouth Development$209kHuman Services$185kInternational$116kCrime & Legal$110kOther$0
02FY2024 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 28 grants below total $1,252,500 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,332,500 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $80,000 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 · FY2024

  • $10k–50k7 grants · $193k
  • $50k–250k21 grants · $1.1M
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Ujamaa Collective$55,000
Rainbow Serpent Inc$55,000
Community Theater Project Corporation dba Kelly St$50,000
The Cooperage Project$50,000
Adams County Arts Council$50,000
Community Partnerships RC&D$50,000
Susquehanna Valley Mediation$50,000
Washington County Historical Society$50,000
Chester Cultural Arts and Technology Center$50,000
Wyoming County Cultural Center Inc$50,000
Crawford County Historical Society$50,000
The Legacy Arts Project$50,000
Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library$50,000
Jefferson County Historical Society$50,000
Twelve Gates Arts$50,000
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 (FY20–22, $55k) 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%LEMOYNE COMMUNITY CENTER: $16k → 12%YOUTH ENRICHMENT SERVICES INC: $7k → 11%CITY OF ASYLUM: $16k → 11%PHILADELPHIA JEWISH FILM AND MEDIA: $16k → 22%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.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 12% of Pennsylvania Humanities Council’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

Pennsylvania Humanities Councillessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

68%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$3.6M · 56 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +36% since the first grant, against +16% for the ones you funded once.

56 repeat relationships — 23 still active in FY2024, 33 since wound down; 5 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

56
119

Total granted

$3.6M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
+16%

Still filing today

89%
87%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentRecreation & SportsOther

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

  • WC
    WYOMING COUNTY CULTURAL CENTER
    4× · 2020–2024 · $124k · revenue +38%
  • 3D
    3 DOTS DOWNTOWN
    4× · 2020–2024 · $123k · revenue +446%
  • AC
    ADAMS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
    3× · 2022–2024 · $116k · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • LP
    LEADERSHIP PHILADELPHIA
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue -19%
  • CO
    COMMISSIONERS OF WYOMING COUNTY
    one grant, 2021 · $25k
  • CO
    CITY OF CARBONDALE
    one grant, 2021 · $25k

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
Penn Hills Library

A welcoming community center that provides information and equitable access to space, collections, materials, programs and services that enrich the quality of life and facilitate lifelong learning.

Education
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
Bethlehem Area Public Library

To provide educational, informational, cultural, and recreational services to the public. services are provided in bethlehem, pennsylvania and its supporting communities.

Education
4
Jersey Shore Public Library

The library exists to provide free public library services for the needs of the residents of jersey shore and surrounding areas.

—
5
Valley Community Library

Public lending library

—
6
North Pocono Public Library

Public lending library

—
7
Penn Area Library

The purpose of the penn area library is to select, make available, and maintain resources in a variety of formats, meeting the educational, informational, and recreational needs of our community. the penn area library offers this service…

—
8
Millvale Community Library

To ensure the preservation and transmission of society's knowledge, history and culture, and to provide the people of Millvale with free and open access to information for education, recreation and reference.

Education
9
Carbondale Public Library

Public lending library

—
10
Pike County Public Library Inc

Provides free library services to residents of pike county, pennsylvania

—
11
Shippensburg Public Library

The shippensburg public library exists to provide cultural vitality and lifelong learning through open access to reading, reference, programs, and community space.

Education
12
Dalton Community Library

Public lending library

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Dauphin County Library System and the most unlike its peers is Catholic Social Services. 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 40 years old; the field is 18. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%1%<5yr14%4%5–10yr19%14%10–20yr18%21%20–35yr14%38%35–55yr16%23%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%2%<5yr14%7%5–10yr19%26%10–20yr18%20%20–35yr14%27%35–55yr16%18%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/182
the rest of the field
10%
5,382/52,220

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.

05the grantee network

159 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 159 of the 182 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.

8
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
49
Early backer (in before they grew)
157/159
Grantees still filing
117/159
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

WYOMING COUNTY CULTURAL CENTER — $123,500 · Arts & CultureWYOMING COUNTY CULTURAL CENTER3 DOTS DOWNTOWN — $122,500 · Arts & Culture3 DOTS DOWNTOWNADAMS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL — $116,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY THEATER PROJECT CORPORATION — $116,000 · Arts & CultureTWELVE GATES ARTS — $116,000 · Arts & CultureCHESTER CULTURAL ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER — $115,993 · Arts & CultureRAINBOW SERPENT INC — $105,000 · Arts & CultureCULTURETRUST GREATER PHILADELPHIA — $100,000 · Arts & CultureTHE COOPERAGE PROJECT — $100,000 · Arts & CultureKEYSTONES ORAL HISTORIES — $100,000 · Arts & CultureWASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC — $100,000 · Arts & CultureCRAWFORD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $100,000 · Arts & CulturePRESERVATION ALLIANCE FOR GREATER PHILADELPHIA — $100,000 · Arts & CultureTHE LEGACY ARTS PROJECT INC — $100,000 · Arts & Culture+52 more — $748,230 · Arts & Culture+52 moreSHAMOKIN-COAL TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY INC — $116,000 · OtherSHAMOKIN-COAL TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY INCJEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $100,000 · OtherKNOXVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY — $100,000 · OtherFREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION — $99,250 · OtherCUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND HAMILTON LIBRARY ASSOC — $84,850 · Other+79 more — $1,420,815 · Other+79 moreWORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF HARRISBURG — $116,000 · EducationWORLD AFFAI…TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA — $54,120 · EducationTRUSTEES OF…GREENSBURG HEMPFIELD AREA LIBRARY — $39,000 · EducationGREENSBURG …SUNRISE OF PHILADELPHIA — $38,000 · EducationSUNRISE OF …HOLLIDAYSBURG AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY — $34,500 · EducationHOLLIDAYSBU…BRADFORD AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY — $31,500 · EducationBRADFORD AR…OIL REGION LIBRARY ASSOCIATION — $31,000 · EducationOIL REGION …MIGHTY WRITERS — $23,500 · Education+13 more — $159,047 · Education+13 moreCOMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL — $116,000 · EnvironmentTHE SUSQUEHANNA GREENWAY PARTNERSHP — $59,250 · EnvironmentAWBURY ARBORETUM ASSOCIATION — $18,000 · EnvironmentUJAMAA COLLECTIVE — $105,000 · Community ImprovementVENANGO AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE — $25,000 · Community ImprovementLITERACY COUNCIL OF SOUTHWESTERN PA — $16,000 · Community ImprovementCENTRO NUEVA CREACION NEW CREATION COMMUNITY CENTER — $12,000 · Community ImprovementNATIONAL ROAD HERITAGE CORRIDOR — $100,000 · Recreation & SportsLANDIS VALLEY ASSOCIATES — $23,000 · Recreation & SportsSUSQUEHANNA VALLEY MEDIATION INC — $100,000 · Crime & LegalBEYOND THE BARS INC — $16,000 · Crime & Legal
Arts & Culture$2,263,223Other$1,920,915Education$526,667Environment$193,250Community Improvement$158,000Recreation & Sports$123,000Crime & Legal$116,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetWYOMING COUNTY CULTURAL CENTER — $123,500 over 4y, 5.9% of budget3 DOTS DOWNTOWN — $122,500 over 4y, 20% of budgetSHAMOKIN-COAL TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY INC — $116,000 over 3y, 9.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL — $116,000 over 3y, 60% of budgetADAMS COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL — $116,000 over 3y, 6.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY THEATER PROJECT CORPORATION — $116,000 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetWORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF HARRISBURG — $116,000 over 3y, 46% of budgetTWELVE GATES ARTS — $116,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetCHESTER CULTURAL ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER — $115,993 over 3y, 23% of budgetRAINBOW SERPENT INC — $105,000 over 2y, 50% of budgetUJAMAA COLLECTIVE — $105,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetSUSQUEHANNA VALLEY MEDIATION INC — $100,000 over 2y, 27% of budgetCULTURETRUST GREATER PHILADELPHIA — $100,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetNATIONAL ROAD HERITAGE CORRIDOR — $100,000 over 2y, 9.1% of budgetTHE COOPERAGE PROJECT — $100,000 over 2y, 9.6% of budgetKEYSTONES ORAL HISTORIES — $100,000 over 2y, 90% of budgetWASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC — $100,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetCRAWFORD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $100,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetPRESERVATION ALLIANCE FOR GREATER PHILADELPHIA — $100,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetJEFFERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $100,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetTHE LEGACY ARTS PROJECT INC — $100,000 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetKNOXVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY — $100,000 over 2y, 26% of budgetFREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION — $99,250 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetCUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND HAMILTON LIBRARY ASSOC — $84,850 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetIndigenous Peoples Day Philly Inc — $66,000 over 3y, 26% of budgetTHE SUSQUEHANNA GREENWAY PARTNERSHP — $59,250 over 3y, 12% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA — $54,120 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBF Jones Memorial Library — $43,000 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetCAMBRIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION — $39,500 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetWARREN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION — $39,500 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetGREENSBURG HEMPFIELD AREA LIBRARY — $39,000 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetSUNRISE OF PHILADELPHIA — $38,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetCatholic Social Services — $38,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetHOLLIDAYSBURG AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY — $34,500 over 4y, 4.7% of budgetUPPER DARBY TOWNSHIP AND SELLERS MEMORIAL LIBRARY — $32,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetBRADFORD AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY — $31,500 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetOIL REGION LIBRARY ASSOCIATION — $31,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetSAYRE PUBLIC LIBRARY INC — $30,000 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetMuhlenberg Community Library — $30,000 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetYORK COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM — $26,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetVENANGO AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE — $25,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetBRADBURY-SULLIVAN LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER — $25,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetJOHNSTOWN AREA HERITAGE ASSOCIATION — $25,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetLaughlin Memorial Library — $24,500 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetSCRIBE VIDEO CENTER INC — $23,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMIGHTY WRITERS — $23,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLANDIS VALLEY ASSOCIATES — $23,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetWAYNE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $22,500 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

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.

The Philadelphia Cult…The William Penn Foun…Connelly FoundationThe Philadelphia Foun…Lindback Cr & Mf Foun…The University of the…The Barra Foundation …Henrietta Tower Wurts…Independence Foundati…Henry Dolfinger 2 Tru…The Pew Charitable Tr…The Pittsburgh Founda…
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund IncPA74.6× affinity37 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc · The William Penn Foundation · Connelly Foundation · The Philadelphia Foundation · Lindback Cr & Mf Foundation Tw Main · The University of the Arts · The Barra Foundation Inc · Henrietta Tower Wurts Memorial Foundation · Independence Foundation · Henry Dolfinger 2 Trust Uw · The Pew Charitable Trusts · The Pittsburgh 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 Pennsylvania Humanities Council 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%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
    85report 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, FY20–25

    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.

    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 182 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines