Pennsylvania · Private foundation
The Lenfest Foundation Inc
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $13M
- Granted FY2022
- 73
- Grants FY2022
- 68
- Organizations funded FY2022
- 32%
- First-time grantees FY2022
Read this first · the figures below need context
95% of The Lenfest Foundation Inc’s FY2023 grant dollars went to Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2023 names 2 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2022, the last year The Lenfest Foundation Inc named its own grantees at scale: 50 organizations, $13M. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
- Median grant, FY2022
- $100,000
- Largest grant, FY2022
- $1,300,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 61 to 70
- FY2019 to FY2022
- States reached, FY2022
- 7
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2022, 32% of the organizations The Lenfest Foundation Inc funded were first-time grantees, receiving 18% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2022, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.3M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2022 | 68 | $13M | 32% |
| FY2021 | 61 | $15M | 15% |
| FY2020 | 69 | $27M | 25% |
| FY2019 | 70 | $11M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2023.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2019 to FY2023, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drexel University | $14,150,000 | 4 | 1% |
| Temple University - Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education | $8,973,000 | 3 | 0% |
| University City District | $4,200,000 | 4 | 18% |
| The Lenfest Scholars Foundation Inc | $2,605,679 | 1 | 58% |
| Education Works Inc | $2,500,000 | 3 | 12% |
| Steppingstone Scholars Inc | $2,030,000 | 4 | 8% |
| Villanova University | $2,000,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Philadelphia Youth Basketball Inc | $1,600,000 | 4 | 15% |
| Elevate 215 | $1,200,000 | 1 | 8% |
| Whyy Inc | $1,200,000 | 4 | 1% |
Show all 83 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 35 recipients with no EIN on record ($7.4M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Lenfest Foundation Inc supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 4 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 80 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The William Penn Foundation · The Philadelphia Foundation · United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey · The Barra Foundation Inc · Henry Dolfinger 2 Trust Uw · Lindback Cr & Mf Foundation Tw Main · Connelly Foundation · The Patricia Kind Family Foundation · The Pew Charitable Trusts · Td Charitable Foundation · The Gordon Charter Foundation · Independence Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Lenfest Foundation Inc?
Find your warmest path to The Lenfest Foundation Inc 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.
About The Lenfest Foundation Inc
- How much does The Lenfest Foundation Inc give?
- The Lenfest Foundation Inc reported 73 grants totaling $13,308,000 in its FY2022 IRS filing. It funded between 61 and 70 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2022.
- What does The Lenfest Foundation Inc fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2019 to FY2023, its largest causes are Education (50%), Youth Development (14%), Community Improvement (9%).
- Who are The Lenfest Foundation Inc's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2019 to FY2023: Drexel University ($14M), Temple University - Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education ($9.0M), University City District ($4.2M).
- Does The Lenfest Foundation Inc fund new organizations?
- In FY2022, 32% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Lenfest Foundation Inc accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Lenfest Foundation Inc?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The William Penn Foundation, The Philadelphia Foundation, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.
- Where is The Lenfest Foundation Inc based?
- The Lenfest Foundation Inc is based in PA.
Play a game based on Lenfest’s filings →