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The Ball Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ball 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.

$2.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$1.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$3.6MRecreation & Sports$1.8MYouth Development$1.8MArts & Culture$651kScience & Tech$400kHealth$150kAnimals$35kHuman Services$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $80k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $200k
  • $250k+3 grants · $2.3M
$10,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$670
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CORNELL UNIVERSITY$1,300,000
BATH & TENNIS CLUB HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC$505,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA$500,000
EQUAL CITIZENS FOUNDATION$150,000
US SQUASH FOUNDATION$50,000
HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY$25,000
SQUASH AND EDUCATION ALLIANCE INC$25,000
THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY$10,000
BRYN MAWR HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$10,000
THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION$10,000
JAMES B LEE JR SCHOLARSHIP FUND$5,000
PEGGY ADAMS ANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF THE PALM BEACHES INC$5,000
PHILADELPHIA CHARITY BALL$1,670
WOMEN GOLFER'S GIVE BACK (WGGB)$1,500
GLADWYNE FIRE COMPANY$500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 78% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $118k → 8%CRANE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $40k → 14%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $1.3M → 16%AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: $30k → 14%EQUAL CITIZENS FOUNDATION: $150k → 14%SALISBURY SCHOOL: $50k → 9%HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY: $25k → 16%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $500k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $1.7M → 22%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%BALDWIN SCHOOL: $300k → 10%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $250k → 16%SALISBURY SCHOOL: $25k → 9%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $500k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $300k → 22%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%BALDWIN SCHOOL: $200k → 10%WEST PALM GOLF COMMUNITY TRUST INC: $250k → 11%SALISBURY SCHOOL: $25k → 9%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA: $343k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $250k → 22%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $82k → 8%THE SHIPLEY SCHOOL: $150k → 10%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA: $500k → 22%UNITED STATES SQUASH RACQUETS ASSOCIATION INC: $175k → 17%BATH & TENNIS CLUB HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $505k → 11%SALISBURY SCHOOL: $25k → 9%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA: $270k → 13%FRIENDS OF HARVARD SQUARE: $25k → 8%PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS: $100k → 22%UNITED STATES SQUASH RACQUETS ASSOCIATION INC: $50k → 17%PRESERVATION FOUNDATION OF PALM BEACH: $25k → 11%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA: $60k → 13%PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS: $100k → 7%PROVIDANCE ANIMAL CENTER: $25k → 10%PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS: $100k → 22%NATIONAL URBAN SQUASH & EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: $50k → 17%PRESERVATION FOUNDATION OF PALM BEACH: $25k → 11%COBBS CREEK RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $600k → 7%PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS: $100k → 22%UNITED STATES SQUASH RACQUETS ASSOCIATION INC: $50k → 17%COBBS CREEK RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200k → 7%BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA: $59k → 22%WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $100k → 17%COBBS CREEK RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200k → 7%DREXEL UNIVERSITY: $250k → 22%SQUASH & EDUCATION ALLIANCE INC: $80k → 17%SQUASH AND EDUCATION ALLIANCE INC: $25k → 17%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

NY
MA
OH
PA
CT
CA
VA
HI
GA
TX
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.6M · 28 repeat orgs$977k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

28 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
20

Total granted

$9.6M
$790k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+14%

Still filing today

86%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $187k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthRecreation & SportsArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentCrime & LegalOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND
    3× · 2020–2022 · $2.3M · revenue +17%
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA
    5× · 2017–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +62%
  • Cornell University
    2× · 2024–2025 · $1.6M · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • DU
    DREXEL UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue +18%
  • WP
    WEST PALM GOLF COMMUNITY TRUST INC
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue -43%
  • SS
    SHIPLEY SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $150k · revenue +18%
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
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
2
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The children's hospital of philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the united states dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children by integrating excellent patient care,…

Health
5
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
6
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy

See schedule owe are an inclusive community on a mission to inspire unbounded curiosity and independent thought in every one of our students. in a unique educational environment that extends well beyond campus, we nurture students'…

Education
7
Pembroke Hill School

A preschool through 12th grade, private, college preparatory school. the school's mission statement is "together, cultivating the best in each for the benefit of all."

Education
8
Phillips Exeter Academy

Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives. [text in quotations is taken from the academy's deed of gift, drafted in 1781] knowledge and goodness "above all, it is expected that the attention…

Education
9
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
10
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
11
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
12
Fairleigh Dickinson University

Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Friends of Harvard Square Inc. 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

42 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. 42 of the 54 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/42
Grantees still filing
27/42
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $2,250,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF RICHMONDCornell University: $1,550,000 · EducationCornell UniversityTHE BALDWIN SCHOOL: $500,000 · EducationTHE BALDWIN SCHOOLPENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS: $411,000 · EducationPENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTSPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $400,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeDREXEL UNIVERSITY: $250,000 · Education+6 more: $375,000 · Education+6 moreBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $1,672,700 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF A…BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF PHILADELPHIA INC: $559,273 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF…+1 more: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE COBBS CREEK RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE COBBS CREEK…UNITED STATES SQUASH RACQUETS ASSOC INC: $275,000 · Recreation & SportsUNITED STATES S…SQUASH AND EDUCATION ALLIANCE INC: $155,000 · Recreation & SportsSQUASH AND EDUC…+3 more: $53,000 · Recreation & SportsBATH & TENNIS HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $510,000 · Arts & CultureWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $130,000 · Arts & CultureThe Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach Inc: $60,000 · Arts & CultureFriends of Harvard Square Inc: $30,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $15,000 · Arts & CultureWEST PALM GOLF COMMUNITY TRUST INC: $250,000 · OtherUS SQUASH FOUNDATION: $75,000 · OtherFIRSTSERVE: $30,000 · OtherPROVIDANCE ANIMAL CENTER: $25,000 · OtherPeggy Adams Animal Rescue League of the Palm Beaches Inc: $15,250 · OtherCHARITY FOR THE ARTS SPORTS & EDUCATION: $15,000 · Other+11 more: $39,000 · OtherTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $70,000 · HealthTHE BRYN MAWR HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $40,000 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc: $36,000 · HealthAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $10,000 · HealthPARTNERSHIP TO END ADDICTION: $10,000 · Health+3 more: $5,170 · HealthEQUAL CITIZENS FOUNDATION: $150,000 · Crime & Legal+1 more: $1,500 · Crime & Legal
Education$5,736,000Youth Development$2,246,973Recreation & Sports$1,483,000Arts & Culture$745,000Other$449,250Health$171,170Crime & Legal$151,500

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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: $2,250,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $1,672,700 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCornell University: $1,550,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COBBS CREEK RESTORATION AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 3y, 6.6% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF PHILADELPHIA INC: $559,273 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetBATH & TENNIS HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $510,000 over 2y, 7.6% of budgetTHE BALDWIN SCHOOL: $500,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS: $411,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $400,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES SQUASH RACQUETS ASSOC INC: $275,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetDREXEL UNIVERSITY: $250,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWEST PALM GOLF COMMUNITY TRUST INC: $250,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSQUASH AND EDUCATION ALLIANCE INC: $155,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetSHIPLEY SCHOOL: $150,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSALISBURY SCHOOL INC: $145,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $130,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetThe Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach Inc: $60,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE BRYN MAWR HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCRANE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $40,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSTREETSQUASH INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $36,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Harvard Square Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetHIGH POINT UNIVERSITY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPeggy Adams Animal Rescue League of the Palm Beaches Inc: $15,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSQUASHBUSTERS INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHARITY FOR THE ARTS SPORTS & EDUCATION: $15,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetPHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCity Squash Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPARTNERSHIP TO END ADDICTION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS ADVOCATES INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNatural Lands Trust Inc: $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHAVERFORD SCHOOL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN GOLFERS GIVE BACK: $3,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetKIDS SMILES INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Palm Beach Police and Fire Foundation Inc: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION: $1,000 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.

The Goldman Sachs Cha…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Philadelphia Foun…The Anne and David B …Fleischner Family Cha…Connelly FoundationNational Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Charities Aid Foundat…Morgan Stanley Global…Donor Advised Charita…The Bank of America C…
The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift FundNY20.3× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Philadelphia Foundation · The Anne and David B Ford Jr Foundation · Fleischner Family Charitable Foundation · Connelly Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Charities Aid Foundation America · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation 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 Ball Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ball Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 Ball Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Ball Family 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 54 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

Play a game based on Ball Family’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