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Poor Richard's Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Poor Richard's Charitable Trust

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$3.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
35
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$859k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$8.2MEducation$1.3MRecreation & Sports$1.1MPhilanthropy$690kHousing & Shelter$633kEmployment$580kPublic Benefit$515kHuman Services$480kOther$0
02FY2024 · 35 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $376k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.3M
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.4M
$35,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$51M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART$859,000
CENTER CITY DISTRICT FOUNDATION$250,000
CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE DESIGN$250,000
SPOTLIGHT PA$225,000
GERMINATION PROJECT$150,000
TINY WPA$125,000
CRAFTNOW$120,000
TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA$100,000
PHILADELPHIA YOUTH SPORTS COLLABORATIVE (PYSC)$100,000
PHILADELPHIA SOCCER 2026$100,000
COOPER HEWITT SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM$85,000
STARFINDER FOUNDATION$75,000
PHILADELPHIA VISITOR CENTER$75,000
THE ATHENAEUM OF PHILADELPHIA$50,000
ABORTION ACCESS FOR ALL$50,000
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 (FY20–24, $715k) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 84% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%WOMENS MEDICAL FUND: $100k → 6%PROJECT HOME: $25k → 22%PROJECT HOME: $25k → 22%PROJECT HOME: $10k → 6%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $5k → 6%WOMEN'S MEDICAL FUND: $50k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $50k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $50k → 22%HOPEPHL: $25k → 22%PEOPLE'S EMERGENCY CENTER: $25k → 22%ABORTION LIBERATION FUND OF PA: $250k → 22%ABORTION LIBERATION FUND OF PA: $100k → 22%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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$13M · 45 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.

45 repeat relationships: 26 still active in FY2024, 19 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

45
27

Total granted

$13M
$1.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+3%

Still filing today

73%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $335k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesOther
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

  • PM
    PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART
    5× · 2020–2024 · $4.4M · revenue +14%
  • SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $714k · revenue +6%
  • CC
    CENTER CITY DISTRICT FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $548k · revenue +493%

Funded once

  • CH
    COOPER HEWITT SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM
    one grant, 2020 · $200k
  • PY
    PHILA YOUTH SPORTS COLLABORATIVE
    one grant, 2020 · $185k
  • LI
    LENFEST INSTITTUTE OF JOURNALISM
    one grant, 2021 · $150k
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
Philadelphia Health Partnership
Health
2
Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau

The philadelphia convention & visitors bureau (phlcvb) is the official tourism promotion agency for the city of philadelphia globally, and the sales and marketing agency for the pennsylvania convention center (pcc). phlcvb markets…

—
3
Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation

Pidc plans and implements economic development initiatives (see schedule o) which enhance the competitive environment, generate jobs and produce higher tax ratables throughout philadelphia.

Community Improvement
4
Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadephia

The chamber of commerce for greater philadelphia (the chamber) brings area businesses and civic leaders together to promote growth and create opportunity in our region. our members represent eleven counties, three states, and roughly…

—
5
Police Athletic League of Philadelphia
Youth Development
6
Whyy Inc

Whyy is the philadelphia region's leading public media provider, serving southeastern pennsylvania, southern new jersey, and all of delaware.

Arts & Culture
7
The Philadelphia Award
—
8
NORTH10 Philadelphia
Youth Development
9
Public Trust

Public Trust is a non-profit organization on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania that fosters learning, creativity, and collaboration in support of justice and equality.

Arts & Culture
10
Golf Association of Philadelphia Foundation
Recreation & Sports
11
Philadelphia Contemporary

We connect the people and places of philadelphia through art and partnership. the organization is a free-standing platform that endeavors to show forward-thinking, high-quality contemporary visual and performance art in the city. the…

Human Services
12
Philadelphia Public Access Corporation

Phillycam provides transformative opportunities for people and communities to express themselves, to learn from each other, and to produce and share media reflective of the experiences of everyday people.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; the most unlike its peers is The Satell Institute. 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

53 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. 53 of the 81 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/53
Grantees still filing
35/53
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART: $4,435,000 · Arts & CulturePHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ARTSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $714,000 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONFRINGEARTS: $285,000 · Arts & Culture+9 more: $335,000 · Arts & Culture+9 moreCENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE DESIGN: $1,135,000 · OtherCENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE DESIGNCRAFTNOW: $530,000 · OtherCRAFTNOWLENFEST INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM: $300,000 · OtherLENFEST INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISMDESIGNING FUTURES CHARITABLE CORPORATION: $200,000 · OtherCOOPER HEWITT SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM: $200,000 · OtherPHILA YOUTH SPORTS COLLABORATIVE: $185,000 · OtherNEIGHBORHOOD GARDENS TRUST: $265,000 · Other+39 more: $2,339,400 · Other+39 moreGERMINATION PROJECT: $450,000 · EducationGERMINATION…TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $450,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF…SPOTLIGHT PA: $375,000 · EducationSPOTLIGHT P…THE ATHENAEUM OF PHILADELPHIA: $125,000 · EducationTHE ATHENAE…DREXEL UNIVERSITY: $110,000 · EducationDREXEL UNIV…+2 more: $60,000 · EducationStarfinder Foundation: $675,000 · PhilanthropyStarfinde…PHILADELPHIA YOUTH SPORTS COLLABORATIVE: $450,000 · PhilanthropyPHILADELP…READING TERMINAL MARKET CORPORATION: $150,000 · PhilanthropyREADING T…JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $75,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FE…+2 more: $22,500 · PhilanthropyCENTER CITY DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $547,500 · Community ImprovementSCHUYLKILL RIVER DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $140,000 · Community ImprovementPhiladelphia Visitor Center Corporation: $75,000 · Community ImprovementABORTION LIBERATION FUND OF PA: $500,000 · Human ServicesHOPEPHL: $155,000 · Human ServicesPROJECT HOME: $60,000 · Human ServicesPHILADELPHIA UNION FOUNDATION: $125,000 · Recreation & SportsPHILADELPHIA SOCCER 2026: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsPHILADELPHIA YOUTH BASKETBALL INC: $75,000 · Recreation & SportsLA LIGA DEL BARRIO: $25,000 · Recreation & Sports
Arts & Culture$5,769,000Other$5,154,400Education$1,570,000Philanthropy$1,372,500Community Improvement$762,500Human Services$715,000Recreation & Sports$325,000

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 budgetPHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART: $4,435,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $714,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetStarfinder Foundation: $675,000 over 5y, 23% of budgetCENTER CITY DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $547,500 over 5y, 20% of budgetABORTION LIBERATION FUND OF PA: $500,000 over 3y, 58% of budgetPHILADELPHIA YOUTH SPORTS COLLABORATIVE: $450,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetGERMINATION PROJECT: $450,000 over 5y, 81% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $450,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSPOTLIGHT PA: $375,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetFRINGEARTS: $285,000 over 5y, 5.8% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD GARDENS TRUST: $265,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA: $170,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetHOPEPHL: $155,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetREADING TERMINAL MARKET CORPORATION: $150,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetFREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetSCHUYLKILL RIVER DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $140,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetTINY WPA: $125,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetTHE ATHENAEUM OF PHILADELPHIA: $125,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetPHILADELPHIA UNION FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 5y, 9.7% of budgetDREXEL UNIVERSITY: $110,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPHILADELPHIA SOCCER 2026: $100,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSHARE FOOD PROGRAM: $100,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE: $100,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetPRESERVATION ALLIANCE FOR GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $95,000 over 4y, 7.5% of budgetSTEPPINGSTONE SCHOLARS INC: $95,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetPhilabundance: $90,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetURBAN CREATORS: $85,000 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetPHILADELPHIA YOUTH BASKETBALL INC: $75,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetPhiladelphia Visitor Center Corporation: $75,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetINDEPENDENCE HISTORICAL TRUST: $75,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $75,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPROJECT HOME: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHEIGHTS PHILADELPHIA: $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PHILADELPHIA EDUCATION FUND: $50,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetNATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFAIRMOUNT PARK CONSERVANCY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSOCIETY HILL PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 3y, 18% of budgetLEADERSHIP PHILADELPHIA: $35,200 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetPHILADELPHIA CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $30,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL ALLIANCE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLA LIGA DEL BARRIO: $25,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetTHE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMITTEE OF SEVENTY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSHIPLEY SCHOOL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBAL PHILADELPHIA ASSOCIATON INC: $10,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetTHE BARNES FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILADELPHIA CITIZEN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS ADVOCATES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ↗
  • Who funds Starfinder Foundation ↗
  • Who funds CENTER CITY DISTRICT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ABORTION LIBERATION FUND OF PA ↗
  • Who funds PHILADELPHIA YOUTH SPORTS COLLABORATIVE ↗
  • Who funds GERMINATION PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds SPOTLIGHT PA ↗
  • Who funds FRINGEARTS ↗
  • Who funds NEIGHBORHOOD GARDENS TRUST ↗
  • Who funds ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA ↗
  • Who funds HOPEPHL ↗
  • Who funds READING TERMINAL MARKET CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SCHUYLKILL RIVER DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds TINY WPA ↗
  • Who funds THE ATHENAEUM OF PHILADELPHIA ↗
  • Who funds PHILADELPHIA UNION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds DREXEL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds PHILADELPHIA SOCCER 2026 ↗
  • Who funds SHARE FOOD PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds PRESERVATION ALLIANCE FOR GREATER PHILADELPHIA ↗
  • Who funds STEPPINGSTONE SCHOLARS INC ↗
  • Who funds Philabundance ↗
  • Who funds URBAN CREATORS ↗

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 William Penn Foun…The Philadelphia Foun…Henry Dolfinger 2 Tru…Independence Foundati…The Barra Foundation …Connelly FoundationThe Leslie Miller and…Future Standard Found…Lindback Cr & Mf Foun…The Patricia Kind Fam…The Philadelphia Cult…United Way of Greater…
The William Penn FoundationPA57.8× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The William Penn Foundation · The Philadelphia Foundation · Henry Dolfinger 2 Trust Uw · Independence Foundation · The Barra Foundation Inc · Connelly Foundation · The Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation · Future Standard Foundation · Lindback Cr & Mf Foundation Tw Main · The Patricia Kind Family Foundation · The Philadelphia Cultural Fund Inc · United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

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 Poor Richard's Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Poor Richard's Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's 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
    13report 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
    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 Poor Richard's Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Poor Richard's Charitable Trust 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 81 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Poor Richard'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