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Steven & Ilene Berger Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Steven & Ilene Berger Family 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.

$440k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

53% of Steven & Ilene Berger Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 3 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

2
’20
2
’21
1
’22
5
’23
3
’24
3
’25

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

01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$909kScience & Tech$341kPhilanthropy$136kReligion$58kInternational$35kHuman Services$26kFood & Nutrition$15kHealth$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $350k
$25,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA$200,000
AMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETY$100,000
TEMPLE BETH HILLEL$50,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA$25,000
BENCHMARK SCHOOL$25,000
KINNEY CENTER$20,000
JEWISH NATIONAL FUND$10,000
HEBREW FREE LOAN SOCIETY OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA$5,000
JACK M BARRACK HEBREW ACADEMY$5,000
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 (FY24–24, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $1k → 7%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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$499k · 4 repeat orgs$82k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +694% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.

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

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
10

Total granted

$499k
$52k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+694%
+11%

Still filing today

50%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k 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
EducationInternationalFood & NutritionHealthHuman 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

  • AT
    AMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $341k
  • BS
    Benchmark School
    4× · 2021–2025 · $86k · revenue +23%
  • TB
    TEMPLE BETH HILLEL
    2× · 2021–2025 · $58k

Funded once

  • JF
    JEWISHER FEDERATION OF GREATHER PHILADELPHIA
    one grant, 2021 · $20k
  • SJ
    SAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue -32%
  • TG
    THE GARAGE
    one grant, 2023 · $5k
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
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
2
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

To prepare students for the rabbinate and to issue the traditional certificate of ordination in connection therewith. the seminary is authorized to confer the degree of master of hebrew literature (m.h.l.), doctor of hebrew literature…

Education
3
Eastern European Jewish Heritage Foundation
Philanthropy
4
University of Judaism Foundation
—
5
Sherit Isroel
—
6
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
7
Abraham Joshua Heschel School

The abraham joshua heschel school is an independent jewish day school which includes students from a wide range of jewish backgrounds, practices and beliefs. (see schedule o for continuation)

Education
8
Shalom School

Shalom school's mission is to provide each child with an outstanding education in a nurturing environment that is academically excellent, inclusive, innovative, and inspired by jewish values and traditions.

—
9
The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life Inc
Religion
10
Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media

Philadelphia jewish film and medias mission is to educate and engage diverse philadelphia communities, jewish and non-jewish alike, by presenting world-class film premieres, repertory cinema, and associated programs that are inspired by…

Human Services
11
The Bnai Jacob Foundation
—
12
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

The weitzman national museum of american jewish history, on independence mall in philadelphia, presents educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore, and celebrate the history of jews in america. its purpose is to connect…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Family & Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia; the most unlike its peers is Sharing Excess. 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

14 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. 14 of the 20 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
9/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $802,500 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA+3 more: $15,250 · EducationAMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETY: $340,707 · OtherAMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETYBenchmark School: $86,000 · OtherBenchmark SchoolTEMPLE BETH HILLEL: $57,500 · OtherTEMPLE BETH HILLELJEWISHER FEDERATION OF GREATHER PHILADELPHIA: $20,000 · OtherKINNEY CENTER: $20,000 · Other+4 more: $15,500 · OtherJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $116,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $30,000 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF LIBI INC: $5,000 · International+1 more: $300 · InternationalSHARING EXCESS: $15,000 · Food & NutritionTHE BARN AT SPRING BROOK FARM INC: $5,000 · HealthJEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $1,000 · Human Services
Education$817,750Other$539,707Philanthropy$116,000International$35,300Food & Nutrition$15,000Health$5,000Human Services$1,000

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 budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $802,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $116,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBenchmark School: $86,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSHARING EXCESS: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAINT JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJACK M BARRACK HEBREW ACADEMY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMERONA LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE BARN AT SPRING BROOK FARM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF LIBI INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL JEWISH POLICY CENTER: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMESIVTA HIGH SCHOOL OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $250 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Jewish Federation of …Gs Donor Advised Phil…Jewish Communal FundVanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…American Endowment Fo…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jewish Federation of Greater PhiladelphiaPA15.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Steven & Ilene Berger Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Steven & Ilene Berger Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%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
    1get 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 · 0–10%
    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.

    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 20 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    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