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The Hamer Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Hamer Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$4.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
42
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$680k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2024.

Environment$15MEducation$4.9MHealth$2.3MPhilanthropy$1.7MAnimals$675kScience & Tech$619kFood & Nutrition$540kArts & Culture$483kOther$0
02FY2024 · 42 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $424k
  • $50k–250k14 grants · $1.3M
  • $250k+7 grants · $3.1M
$50,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$62M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WESTERN PA CONSERVANCY$680,000
PA CHAPTER NATURE CONSERVANCY$494,500
STATE COLLEGE FOOD BANK$460,000
SCHLOW CENTRE REGION LIBRARY$443,530
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FDTN$420,000
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND$317,000
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY$278,302
AUDUBON SOCIETY PA$150,000
CENTRE COUNTY UNITED WAY$125,000
IUP RESEARCH INSTITUTE$112,500
CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$105,000
CENTRE FOUNDATION$100,000
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO$100,000
CENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU$90,000
DISCOVERY SPACE$86,250
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, $790k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%STATE COLLEGE FOOD BANK: $460k → 16%CENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: $90k → 16%STATE COLLEGE FOOD BANK: $30k → 16%CENTRE SAFE: $30k → 16%CENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: $30k → 16%CENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: $15k → 16%CENTRE SAFE: $15k → 16%STATE COLLEGE FOOD BANK: $15k → 16%CENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: $15k → 16%CENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: $15k → 16%STATE COLLEGE FOOD BANK: $15k → 16%CENTRE SAFE: $15k → 16%CENTRE SAFE: $15k → 16%STATE COLLEGE FOOD BANK: $15k → 16%CENTRE SAFE: $15k → 16%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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$26M · 44 repeat orgs$2.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +13% since the first grant, against -7% for those funded once.

44 repeat relationships: 38 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

44
14

Total granted

$26M
$2.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
-7%

Still filing today

59%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $155k 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
EnvironmentHealthHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterEducationArts & CultureOther
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

  • WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $2.7M · revenue +28%
  • FB
    FOOD BANK OF THE STATE COLLEGE AREA INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $535k · revenue +64%
  • University of Chicago
    5× · 2020–2024 · $450k · revenue +52%

Funded once

  • CC
    CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC
    one grant, 2023 · $500k · revenue -43%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $500k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $311k
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
Central Pennsylvania Conservancy Inc

The mission of Central Pennsylvania Conservancy (CPC) is to acquire, preserve, and protect local land and natural resources in a five-county, South-Central PA region. Our vision is to create a local network of permanently protected and…

Environment
2
Center for Community Resources Inc

To coordinate services among private and government agencies for specialized populations to ensure service continuity, reduce duplication, and assist individuals and families in accessing appropriate mental health, intellectual…

Health
3
Center for Community Action

The center for community action is the designated lead poverty agency for blair, bedford, fulton, and huntingdon counties in central pennsylvania and exists to provide a broad spectrum of services to the low income residents of the…

Housing & Shelter
4
Center in the Woods Inc

The center in the woods' mission is to provide the highest quality of life for older adults in southwestern pennsylvania.

—
5
C-Net

C-net is organized to maintain and operated, on a not-for-profit basis, a government and education access network to inform the public on subjects useful and beneficial to the community via cable television channels and internet…

Arts & Culture
6
Private Industry Council of Centre County Inc

Private industry council of centre county, inc. partners with business, government, and non-profit entities throughout central pa to build strong communities. this is accomplished by providing grants management, fiscal services, program…

Employment
7
Centre County Federation of Public Libraries

Centre county federation of public libraries (federation) is a non-profit organization that coordinates and oversees joint affairs of the public libraries in centre county, pennsylvania.

—
8
Centre Wildlife Care

Licensed organization dedicated to caring for injured, orphaned, sick and displaced wildlife for the purpose of releasing them back into the wild.

Animals
9
Chamber of Business & Industry of Centre

To promote the well-being and growth of commerce, business and industry, while striving to maintain a high quality of life in centre county.

Community Improvement
10
Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation

To preserve, facilitate, promote and foster economic development within cumberland county and the surrounding regions, by providing integrated economic development and tourism marketing services to, and on behalf of, the citizens of the…

Community Improvement
11
Central Philadelphia Development Corporation C/O Center City District

To strengthen the competitiveness of center city philadelphia as an attractive place to work, to visit, and to live to enhance center city as the vibrant hub of the greater philadelphia region through research, planning, advocacy, and…

Arts & Culture
12
Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce

To promote successful business activity in the central bucks county, pa area.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Centre Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Friends of Via. 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

36 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. 36 of the 62 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.

8
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/36
Grantees still filing
19/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PA CHAPTER NATURE CONSERVANCY: $3,605,500 · OtherPA CHAPTER NATURE CONSERVANCYWESTERN PA CONSERVANCY: $2,428,800 · OtherWESTERN PA CONSERVANCYUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FDTN: $1,830,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FDTNPENN STATE UNIVERSITY: $1,786,341 · OtherPENN STATE UNIVERSITYMILLBROOK MARSH NATURE CENTER: $1,667,800 · OtherMILLBROOK MARSH NATURE CENTERCENTRE COUNTY UNITED WAY: $740,000 · OtherAUDUBON SOCIETY PA: $625,000 · Other+34 more: $4,891,185 · Other+34 moreTHE CLEARWATER CONSERVANCY OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INC: $2,741,667 · EnvironmentTHE CLEARWATER CONSERVANC…WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $2,661,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INCCHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC: $500,000 · EnvironmentCHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY IN…CENTRE COUNTY FARMLAND TRUST: $240,000 · Environment+4 more: $330,000 · EnvironmentCENTRE VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE: $1,590,000 · HealthCENTRE VO…The Center Foundation: $300,000 · HealthThe Cente…STRAWBERRY FIELDS INC: $229,500 · HealthSTRAWBERR…HORSES OF HOPE INC: $97,395 · Health+1 more: $55,000 · HealthFOOD BANK OF THE STATE COLLEGE AREA INC: $535,000 · Human ServicesCENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: $165,000 · Human ServicesCENTRE SAFE: $90,000 · Human ServicesUniversity of Chicago: $450,000 · EducationMID-STATE LITERACY COUNCIL INC: $143,010 · EducationDISCOVERY SPACE OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INC: $281,880 · Arts & CultureCENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $185,000 · Arts & CultureIUP RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $337,500 · Science & Tech
Other$17,574,626Environment$6,472,667Health$2,271,895Human Services$790,000Education$593,010Arts & Culture$466,880Science & Tech$337,500

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 budgetTHE CLEARWATER CONSERVANCY OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INC: $2,741,667 over 5y, 49% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $2,661,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCENTRE VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE: $1,590,000 over 5y, 58% of budgetCENTRE COUNTY UNITED WAY: $740,000 over 5y, 14% of budgetFOOD BANK OF THE STATE COLLEGE AREA INC: $535,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetCHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC: $500,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $450,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetIUP RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $337,500 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetDISCOVERY SPACE OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INC: $281,880 over 4y, 9.4% of budgetTRI-MUNICIPAL PARK INC: $250,000 over 1y, 81% of budgetCENTRE COUNTY FARMLAND TRUST: $240,000 over 5y, 67% of budgetSTRAWBERRY FIELDS INC: $229,500 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetCENTRE FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetCENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $185,000 over 3y, 31% of budgetUNITED WAY HUNTINGDON COUNTY INC: $180,000 over 5y, 16% of budgetCLINTON COUNTY UNITED WAY INC: $180,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetCENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: $165,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetCENTRE CARE INC: $155,316 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMID-STATE LITERACY COUNCIL INC: $143,010 over 5y, 18% of budgetNITTANY MOUNTAIN BIKING ASSOCIATION: $125,000 over 4y, 52% of budgetFriends of VIA: $100,000 over 2y, 35% of budgetHORSES OF HOPE INC: $97,395 over 2y, 60% of budgetSHELTER SERVICE INC: $96,515 over 2y, 18% of budgetCENTRE SAFE: $90,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetINTERFAITH HUMAN SERVICES INC: $90,000 over 5y, 7.3% of budgetHOUSING TRANSITIONS INC: $90,000 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetPenns Valley Conservation Association: $75,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetWECONSERVEPA: $70,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetCENTRE COUNTY LIBRARY AND HISTORICAL MUSUEM: $60,000 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA PARKS AND FORESTS FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetTIDES INC: $55,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetSTATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST INC: $30,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetMOUNT NITTANY CONSERVANCY INC: $30,000 over 5y, 24% of budgetCENTRE COUNTY PAWS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% 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 THE CLEARWATER CONSERVANCY OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INC ↗
  • Who funds WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRE VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE ↗
  • Who funds CENTRE COUNTY UNITED WAY ↗
  • Who funds FOOD BANK OF THE STATE COLLEGE AREA INC ↗
  • Who funds CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds IUP RESEARCH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds The Center Foundation ↗
  • Who funds DISCOVERY SPACE OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INC ↗
  • Who funds TRI-MUNICIPAL PARK INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRE COUNTY FARMLAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds STRAWBERRY FIELDS INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY HUNTINGDON COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds CLINTON COUNTY UNITED WAY INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRE COUNTY YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU ↗
  • Who funds CENTRE CARE INC ↗
  • Who funds MID-STATE LITERACY COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds NITTANY MOUNTAIN BIKING ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds TROUT UNLIMITED SPRING CREEK CHAPTER ↗
  • Who funds Friends of VIA ↗

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.

Centre Foundation IncNorthwest Charitable …The Blake and Linda G…Centre County United …The Happy Valley Adve…The Poole FoundationFirstenergy FoundationGlenn O and Thelma M …The Louis E Silvi Fou…Foundation for Pennsy…Ferguson Foundation I…Port Family Foundation
Centre Foundation IncPA46.9× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Centre Foundation Inc · Northwest Charitable Foundation · The Blake and Linda Gall Family Foundation · Centre County United Way · The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau · The Poole Foundation · Firstenergy Foundation · Glenn O and Thelma M Hawbaker Family Foundation · The Louis E Silvi Foundation · Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds · Ferguson Foundation Inc · Port Family 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 The Hamer Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Hamer Foundation. 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 →median 27%
  • Chesapeake Conservancy Inc: 27% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
10report 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.

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 62 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 Hamer’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