· Private foundation
The Nicely Ridge 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k1 grant · $8k
- $10k–50k14 grants · $308k
- $50k–250k6 grants · $481k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| URBAN IMPACT FOUNDATION | $133,667 |
| PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY | $110,000 |
| LIGONIER CAMP AND CONFERENCE CENTER | $77,000 |
| BOUNTIFUL AMERICAN FOUNDATION | $60,000 |
| TRADE INSTITUTE OF PITTSBURGH | $50,000 |
| FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION | $50,000 |
| CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION | $40,000 |
| MT LEBANON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $37,998 |
| LIVING STONES | $30,000 |
| LIGHT OF LIFE RESCUE MISSION | $30,000 |
| CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY | $25,000 |
| COMMUNITY KITCHEN PITTSBURGH | $25,000 |
| GROW PITTSBURGH | $25,000 |
| WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY | $25,000 |
| THE SPARTAN COMMUNITY CENTER | $15,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY18–25, $522k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 15% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.
24 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 66% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $256k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CMCarnegie Mellon University6× · 2018–2025 · $550k · revenue +64%
- TITRADE INSTITUTE OF PITTSBURGH4× · 2022–2025 · $200k · revenue +135%
- WPWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY8× · 2018–2025 · $122k · revenue +52%
Funded once
- TBTHE BRASHEAR ASSOCIATION INCone grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue -45%
- CMCARNEGIE MELLON - TEPPER SCHOOL OF BUSINESSone grant, 2023 · $50k
- AHAmerican Heart Association Incgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $40k · revenue +26%
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.
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.
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…
We improve quality of life by enhancing and stewarding pittsburgh's parks in partnership with the community.
La roche university advances learning informed by ethical and service-oriented values, reflecting its catholic heritage and the charism of the sisters of divine providence.
The programs of leadership pittsburgh inc. (lpinc.) provide a continuum of civic engagement opportunities. the programs connect individuals from diverse backgrounds, professional levels, and organizations to learn about and serve the…
Youth enrichment services, inc. was founded in 1994 for the purpose of providing at-risk teens and low-income families residing in allegheny county a comprehensive in-home peer mentoring program, juvenile alternative to detention,…
The university of pittsburgh, founded in 1787, is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the united states and one of the nation's top public research universities. for more than two centuries, the university of pittsburgh…
Provide information to decision maker in the pittsburgh region to promote economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental quality for sustainable solutions for communities and businesses.
The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…
To provide a means for sharing resources and information among members, engage in joint projects, and offer a common voice on educational matters.
The mission of the pittsburgh food policy council is to build a food system that benefits our communities, economy, and environment in ways that are just, equitable and sustainable. driven by community-led solutions, we bring together over…
To support education and research at college, university, and research libraries.
Cafe momentum pittsburgh transforms young lives by equipping the community's most at-risk youth with life skills, education and employment opportunities to help them achieve their full potential.
How this is measured
29 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. 29 of the 55 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 LIGONIER CAMP & CONFERENCE CENTER ↗
- Who funds Carnegie Mellon University ↗
- Who funds TRADE INSTITUTE OF PITTSBURGH ↗
- Who funds LIGHT OF LIFE MINISTRIES INC ↗
- Who funds URBAN IMPACT FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds STEM CODING LAB INC ↗
- Who funds Pittsburgh Botanic Garden ↗
- Who funds LIVING STONES ↗
- Who funds FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC ↗
- Who funds BOUNTIFUL AMERICAN FOUNDATION INC DBA AMERICAN MOBILITY PROJECT ↗
- Who funds LET GROW INC ↗
- Who funds SCOTT CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds THE BRASHEAR ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds GROW PITTSBURGH ↗
- Who funds MT LEBANON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
- Who funds GREATER PITTSBURGH COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY KITCHEN PITTSBURGH ↗
- Who funds Cornerstone Christian Academy Inc ↗
- Who funds JEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH ↗
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 Pittsburgh Foundation · The Grable Foundation · Richard King Mellon Foundation · Hillman Family Foundations · The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania · Eqt Foundation · Massey Charitable Trust · McCune Foundation Pnc Bank Na · Allegheny Foundation · Howard & Nell E Miller Foundat · McElhattan Foundation · The Heinz Endowments
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Nicely Ridge Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Nicely Ridge Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Nicely Ridge Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Nicely Ridge 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.
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