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The Cynthia and Jim Boscov Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Cynthia and Jim Boscov 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.

$73k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$20k
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, FY2021 to 2025.

Education$251kPhilanthropy$93kHealth$50kHousing & Shelter$12kHuman Services$7kRecreation & Sports$7kFood & Nutrition$5kYouth Development$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $43k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNITED WAY OF BERKS COUNTY$20,000
ALVERNIA UNIVERSITY$12,500
HOSTS FOR HOSPITALS$10,000
CARON TREATMENT CENTERS$5,000
OLIVET BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF READING AND BERKS COUNTY PA$5,000
HELPING HARVEST FRESH FOOD BANK$5,000
SPOTLIGHT PA$5,000
RICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION$5,000
READING HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$1,000
GOGGLE WORKS$1,000
SAFE BERKS$1,000
READING SCIENCE CENTER$1,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF READING PA$1,000
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 (FY21–25, $14k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, 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%SOUTH MOUNTAIN YMCA: $7k → 9%SAFE BERKS: $5k → 11%SAFE BERKS: $1k → 11%SAFE BERKS: $500 → 11%SAFE BERKS: $500 → 11%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.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$188k · 6 repeat orgs$233k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +4% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
4

Total granted

$188k
$210k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+4%

Still filing today

67%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 68% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $23k went to new ones.

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

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesHealthHousing & ShelterPhilanthropyOther
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

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF BERKS COUNTY INC
    4× · 2021–2025 · $75k · revenue +10%
  • AU
    ALVERNIA UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2021–2025 · $50k · revenue +27%
  • HF
    Hosts for Hospitals
    3× · 2023–2025 · $12k · revenue +75%

Funded once

  • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $200k · revenue +4%
  • SM
    SOUTH MOUNTAIN YMCA
    one grant, 2024 · $7k · revenue 0%
  • SR
    SCHUYLKILL RIVER GREENWAY ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2024 · $3k · revenue 0%
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
Reading Hospital

Website: www.towerhealth.org/locations/reading-hospital the mission of reading hospital is to provide compassionate, accessible, high-quality, cost-effective healthcare to the community; to promote health; to education healthcare…

Health
2
Albright College

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

Education
3
Reading Berks Association of Realtors Inc

The reading berks association of realtors promotes a high standard of professionalism, advocates for private property rights, and strives to improve the quality of life in our communities.

—
4
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
5
Delaware Valley University

See schedule o.we are inspired by the ideals of our founder who, in 1896, emphasized respect for all people and ideas, who honored knowledge with practice, progress and the common good. our historical commitment to experiential learning…

—
6
Holy Redeemer Health System

As a catholic health system, rooted in the tradition of the sisters of the holy redeemer, we care, comfort and heal, following the example of jesus, proclaiming the hope god offers in the midst of human struggle.

Health
7
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
8
Philadelphia Health Partnership
Health
9
Chambersburg Hospital

The chambersburg hospital is a regional non-profit health care organization committed to the improvement of the health and well-being of the people in southcentral pennsylvania.

Health
10
Upmc Pinnacle Hospitals

Upmc pinnacle hospitals mission as a charitable organization is dedicatied to maintaining and improving the health and quality of life for all persons of the central pennsylvania area.

Health
11
Saint Joseph's University

As philadelphia's jesuit catholic university, saint joseph's provides a rigorous, student-centered education rooted in the liberal arts. we prepare students for personal excellence, professional success, and engaged citizenship. striving…

Education
12
Gettysburg College

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

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank; the most unlike its peers is Hosts for Hospitals. 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

17 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. 17 of the 19 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
9/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $200,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY+1 more: $5,000 · EducationALVERNIA UNIVERSITY: $50,000 · OtherALVERNIA UNIVERSITYCARON TREATMENT CENTERS: $25,000 · OtherCARON TREATMENT CENTERSPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $18,750 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOODJEWISH FEDERATION OF READING PA INC: $9,000 · OtherJEWISH FEDERATION OF READING …HELPING HARVEST FRESH FOOD BANK: $5,000 · Other+4 more: $4,600 · OtherUNITED WAY OF BERKS COUNTY INC: $75,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF BERKS C…BERKS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $9,000 · PhilanthropyBERKS COUNTY COMMUNIT…SOUTH MOUNTAIN YMCA: $7,000 · Human ServicesSAFE BERKS: $7,000 · Human ServicesHosts for Hospitals: $12,000 · Housing & ShelterRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION: $5,000 · HealthREADING HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $1,000 · HealthOLIVET BOYS' & GIRLS' CLUB OF READING AND BERKS COUNTY PA: $5,000 · Youth Development
Education$205,000Other$112,350Philanthropy$84,000Human Services$14,000Housing & Shelter$12,000Health$6,000Youth Development$5,000

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 budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $200,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF BERKS COUNTY INC: $75,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetALVERNIA UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHosts for Hospitals: $12,000 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF READING PA INC: $9,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetBERKS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $9,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTH MOUNTAIN YMCA: $7,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSAFE BERKS: $7,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHELPING HARVEST FRESH FOOD BANK: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSCHUYLKILL RIVER GREENWAY ASSOCIATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREADING SCIENCE CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGOGGLE WORKS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREADING HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWHYY INC: $100 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 Breidegam Family …Berks County Communit…Penn Entertainment Fo…Henry Janssen Foundat…Hammel Family Foundat…The Wyomissing Founda…Firstenergy FoundationBerkshire Charitable …Marlin Miller Jr Fami…United Way of Berks C…The Kindness CoalitionPf Foundation Inc
The Breidegam Family FoundationPA30.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Breidegam Family Foundation · Berks County Community Foundation Inc · Penn Entertainment Foundation · Henry Janssen Foundation · Hammel Family Foundation · The Wyomissing Foundation Inc · Firstenergy Foundation · Berkshire Charitable Foundation · Marlin Miller Jr Family Foundation · United Way of Berks County Inc · The Kindness Coalition · Pf 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 Cynthia and Jim Boscov Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cynthia and Jim Boscov Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
4report 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 Cynthia and Jim Boscov Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Cynthia and Jim Boscov 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 19 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 Cynthia and Jim Boscov 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