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· Private foundation

The Armstrong 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.

$2.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
73
Grants FY2025still arriving
17
States reached
$397k
Largest
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$2.9MHealth$1.1MEnvironment$656kReligion$472kFood & Nutrition$334kArts & Culture$182kHuman Services$141kHousing & Shelter$140kOther$0
02FY2025 · 73 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k39 grants · $168k
  • $10k–50k25 grants · $512k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $438k
  • $250k+3 grants · $967k
$7,500
Median grant
17
States reached
$47M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BLAIR ACADEMY$396,992
WILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES$320,000
PENN MEDICINE$250,000
BRYN MAWR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$135,000
NATURAL LANDS TRUST$78,000
PENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$75,000
GOL HOWIES HOUSE$50,000
PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY$50,000
ADIRONDACK NATURE CONSERVANCY$50,000
ADIRONDACK COUNCIL$37,500
PROJECT HOME$35,000
PHILABUNDANCE$30,000
BAKER INDUSTRIES$30,000
ADIRONDACK LAND TRUST$30,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC$25,000
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 (FY23–25, $193k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 87% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%DELIVER FOUND: $2k → 11%VALLEY YOUTH HOUSE COMMITTEE (AFG): $8k → 11%MAKE-A-WISH MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $1k → 14%BANCROFT: $25k → 12%MAKE-A-WISH-MIDDLE TENNESSEE: $250 → 14%BANCROFT: $10k → 12%FIRST GENERATION INVESTORS: $10k → 17%MAINE NEEDS: $5k → 7%MAINE NEEDS: $2k → 7%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF PALM BEACH: $3k → 11%PROJECT HOME: $35k → 22%PROJECT HOME: $30k → 22%ELDERNET OF LOWER MERION & NARBERTH: $7k → 10%ELDERNET OF LOWER MERION AND NARBERTH: $5k → 10%PROJECT HOME: $30k → 22%ELDERNET OF LOWER MERION & NARBERTH: $5k → 10%GRANDS STEPPING UP DENIS FOOD PANTRY: $1k → 10%HOPEPHL: $15k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
MT
MN
IL
NY
MA
IA
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
VA
MD
TN
NC
DC
LA
AL
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

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

About 54% of The Armstrong Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 78% of the giving stays in PA; by stated purpose, 46%.

The Armstrong Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
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 funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.9M · 57 repeat orgs$432k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +3% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

57 repeat relationships: 49 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 22 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

57
35

Total granted

$5.9M
$249k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+3%
0%

Still filing today

79%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $184k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesEnvironmentArts & CultureFood & NutritionHealthOther
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

  • BA
    BLAIR ACADEMY
    4× · 2021–2025 · $1.3M · revenue +27%
  • TP
    THE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
    4× · 2021–2025 · $240k · revenue +37%
  • AB
    A BETTER CHANCE IN LOWER MERION INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $150k · revenue +1%

Funded once

  • PHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS ADVOCATES INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +86%
  • HP
    HOPE PHL PEOPLE'S EMRGENCY CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $15k
  • UO
    UW OF PALM BEACH COUNTY HUNGER RELIEF
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
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
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
2
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
3
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
4
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
5
Public Media Nj Inc

To bring quality public television programs and resources to communities throughout new jersey and its tri-state neighbors. its content, both on-air and online, aims to reflect the diverse

Arts & Culture
6
Point Park University

Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…

—
7
Gettysburg College

Gettysburg college is a residential, undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences.

Education
8
Native Plant Trust Inc

The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.

Environment
9
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

The western pennsylvania conservancy protects and restores exceptional places to provide our region with clean waters and healthy forests, wildlife and natural areas for the benefit of present and future generations. the conservancy…

Environment
10
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
11
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
12
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Team Impact Inc; the most unlike its peers is Lower Merion Conservancy. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

85 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. 85 of the 115 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
84/85
Grantees still filing
42/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BLAIR ACADEMY: $1,309,343 · EducationBLAIR ACADEMYWILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES: $836,640 · EducationWILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADESPENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $145,000 · EducationAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $110,000 · Education+19 more: $336,650 · Education+19 morePENN MEDICINE: $745,000 · OtherPENN MEDICINEBRYN MAWR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $485,000 · OtherBRYN MAWR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHA BETTER CHANCE IN LOWER MERION INC: $150,000 · OtherA BETTER CHANCE IN LOWER MERION INCTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $125,000 · OtherADIRONDACK HEALTH FOUNDATION: $100,000 · OtherBRYN MAWR HOSPITAL: $97,500 · OtherGOL HOWIES HOUSE: $85,000 · Other+47 more: $578,750 · Other+47 moreTHE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $240,000 · EnvironmentTHE PENNSYLVA…Natural Lands Trust Inc: $238,000 · EnvironmentNatural Lands…ADIRONDACK LAND TRUST INC: $134,500 · EnvironmentADIRONDACK LA…THE ADIRONDACK COUNCIL INC: $92,500 · EnvironmentTHE ADIRONDAC…+6 more: $58,000 · Environment+6 morePROJECT HOME: $120,000 · Human ServicesBANCROFT A NEW JERSEY NON PROFIT CORPORATION: $35,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $25,000 · Human ServicesELDERNET OF LOWER MERION AND NARBERTH: $19,000 · Human ServicesHOPEPHL: $15,000 · Human ServicesBROAD STREET MINISTRY: $10,000 · Human ServicesFIRST GENERATION INVESTORS: $10,000 · Human Services+6 more: $23,600 · Human ServicesADIRONDACK EXPLORER INC: $65,000 · Arts & CulturePHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS ADVOCATES INC: $50,000 · Arts & CulturePRO PUBLICA INC: $22,500 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $17,500 · Arts & CultureHARRITON ASSOCIATION: $13,000 · Arts & CultureLOWER MERION CONSERVANCY: $10,000 · Arts & CultureNEIGHBORHOOD TRUST FINANCIAL PARTNERS INC: $9,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & CultureWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $64,000 · InternationalWATERORG: $5,000 · InternationalRAINFOREST TRUST: $5,000 · InternationalPhilabundance: $58,500 · Food & NutritionCHESTER COUNTY FOOD BANK: $5,000 · Food & NutritionBOCA HELPING HANDS INC: $3,000 · Food & Nutrition+1 more: $1,000 · Food & Nutrition
Education$2,737,633Other$2,366,250Environment$763,000Human Services$257,600Arts & Culture$192,000International$74,000Food & Nutrition$67,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBLAIR ACADEMY: $1,309,343 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetWILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES: $836,640 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetTHE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $240,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetNatural Lands Trust Inc: $238,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetA BETTER CHANCE IN LOWER MERION INC: $150,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $145,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetADIRONDACK LAND TRUST INC: $134,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $125,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT HOME: $120,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $110,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ADIRONDACK COUNCIL INC: $92,500 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetKENT SCHOOL: $85,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TIMOTHY SCHOOL CORPORATION: $80,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetBAKER INDUSTRIES INC: $70,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetADIRONDACK EXPLORER INC: $65,000 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $64,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPhilabundance: $58,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTEAM IMPACT INC: $55,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS ADVOCATES INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBANCROFT A NEW JERSEY NON PROFIT CORPORATION: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GESU SCHOOL INC: $28,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetChildren of Fallen Patriots Foundation: $27,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetVanderbilt University: $27,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD GARDENS TRUST: $25,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetMIGHTY WRITERS: $23,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $22,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COBBS CREEK RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEAGLES AUTISM CHALLENGE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetELDERNET OF LOWER MERION AND NARBERTH: $19,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $17,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHOPEPHL: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPortland Community Squash: $15,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetLake Placid Public Library: $15,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetHARRITON ASSOCIATION: $13,000 over 2y, 6.8% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $10,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHADDEUS STEVENS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOWER MERION CONSERVANCY: $10,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBROAD STREET MINISTRY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFIRST GENERATION INVESTORS: $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetNATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetADIRONDACK MOUNTAIN CLUB INC: $10,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLUDINGTON LIBRARY: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetPHILADELPHIA ORCHARD PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetGENDER JUSTICE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD TRUST FINANCIAL PARTNERS INC: $9,000 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.

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 Philadelphia FoundationPA28.3× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Philadelphia Foundation · The William Penn Foundation · Connelly Foundation · United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey · Claneil Foundation Inc · Lincoln Financial Foundation Inc · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Henry Dolfinger 2 Trust Uw · Impact100 Philadelphia Inc · The Leo and Peggy Pierce Family Foundation Inc · The Gordon Charter Foundation · Phillies Charities Inc

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 The Armstrong Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Armstrong Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Connecticut College: 0% of income from government
  • Blair Academy: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
22report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 The Armstrong Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Armstrong 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 115 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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